G's v Old Tiffinians

Following our defeat against KCS the week before, we had another top three team to play, Old Tiffinians. Having already played them at theirs, we had an idea as to what they were about, so went into the game fully aware of the task ahead of us.

Aaron 'precious' Bozcek having called in sick last minute, meant a few quick changes to the team, with Rory Evans being called up and Dan Billins moving into 8, not bad changes to have to rely on.

The game about to kick off and Jake Radcliffe still hadn’t blessed us with his presence from the changing room. It was down to Old Tiffs to take advantage of the mismatch out wide from the kick off, scrambled defence by Grinstead was not good enough as Tiffs moved quickly from left to right with some well drilled phases and dotted down comfortably in the corner. Not the ideal start, but one we had to recover from - quickly.

The restart by Grinstead, and the Tiffs receiver manging to drop a fairly easy ball. Grinstead now in a more comfortable position and with a scrum to test the Tiffs pack. After quite a few rewinds of the footage, it seems the Tiffs 9 slapped the ball out of Dan Poulton’s hand, right in front of the ref, meaning scrappy ball for our backs who recovered well, with Oli Billins dinking behind the defensive line, a little game of kick tennis and Oli returning the ball well, catching a few Tiffs defenders off guard. G’s into their patterns, Ryland with an offload to Rory Evans, where a penalty was awarded due to the captains theatrics from a player not rolling away. Three points in front of the sticks for Oli who used his Jedi mind tricks to bend the ball through the sticks.

Jake Radcliffe, finally on the pitch, was tearing the Tiffs backline up with his darting runs and attacking prowess. He soon found himself one-on-one with the full back, but unfortunately was unable to get around him, the ever present Ben Tottman was following up and won Grinstead a penalty for players not releasing, another easy three points for Oli to convert and the lead was ours!

With Grinstead starting to get their tails up, and the crowd beginning to feel the tides of change, Tiffs had other plans. The forward pack lacking a few of the heavy hitters, struggled to make ground consistently through the phases, and Tiffs absorbed the attacks well, returning any clearance kicks for gained yards. Tiffs had also clearly been watching the Grinstead VEO, calling our phases almost to the number of plays, which I guess shows how far we have come this season already. Tiffs with a number of hard fast runners, soon broke out wide, and a very good dummy by the hooker saw him clean under the posts for another 5 points.

The G’s back 3 had a barrage of high balls to deal with over the course of the first half and did a splendid job with it, showing their rugby brains, knowing when to return kick and when to run it out, often making the team some great yardage. Grinstead eventually worked a penalty out wide which we kicked for a lineout to try and take advantage of the good field position. A great lineout from Totty and Sam Lindsay-McCall saw the G’s pack fall just short of the white wash. Slick hands by the backs, Jake again popping up with the ball and deciding to take it himself, was heartbreakingly stopped short, and Tiffs turned the ball over for a penalty.

G’s were now playing some great rugby, it was soon the chance for Luke, a regular since his call up from the 2s, showing his dynamic skill set, by making a good break to then release Jake again into space, Tiffs frantically covering in defense, allowed the G’s pack to have their turn, into their patterns. With no space Dan decides to spin it wide for the backs to give it a go, with Ben Saunders making a crashing run into the Tiffs backline, on any other day this run gets him through, however Tiffs were just a different beast today, and stopped him dead in his tracks. Ref stops play for a head injury on a Tiffs player. Tiffs taking every counter attacking opportunity and showing their class, were soon darting over the line for another try out wide, having sucked G’s in tight. This action signalled the end of the half.

Grinstead with the restart, and coming out firing. Sam with a great tackle, and Guy Collins with a superb charge down within the first minute of the second half! However Tiffs again living off Grinstead scraps from a poor lineout, managed to attack hard into the G’s half and sniffing for more points. Our defence working hard dogging for every inch available, managed to get a penalty, which was not put out to touch. Tiffs again back on the front foot firmly inside G’s 22. It was super sub Elliot Martin-Drew, on at 9, deciding he had had enough of this nonsense and cleared the lines.

Tiffs moved the ball quickly wide and found themselves with space out wide - until the starlet Ted Hardisty, making an unbelievable covering tackle, and then becoming involved in the next phase after turning the ball over. Senior rugby is definitely becoming this young mans home, and he is already starting to pick the wall paper. Oli Billins, making a darting run off Dan Poultons shoulder, found himself in space, however with some dodgy covering defense by Tiffs meant he ended up on the floor with a knock to the head. Apparently, in at the side and no arms onto the head, is just a part of the game. The silver fox Dan Poulton steps up for the kick to touch, Grinstead needing something from these next couple of minutes to have any chance of staying in this game. Another scrappy lineout (Sam will no doubt give as a succesful one as we ended up with it thanks to Ben Totty covering superbly after the knock down) meant G’s just got it out, but unable to punch through the Tiffs defence, Ryland knocking the ball on gave Tiffs another opportunity to quickly turn a G’s mistake into a Tiffs chance, the Tiffs back 3 making a dart and forcing an offside penalty which gave them perfect field advantage to kick for touch and the Tiffs pack mauled over for another 5.

Grinstead now starting to give away too many penalties, which will be a conversation for this weeks training sessions, found themselves back in their 5m line and Tiffs again using their maul to drive themselves over the line!

Grinstead with the restart, and Ryland showing his previous theatrics were not a one-off, found himself being tripped by the Tiffs captain, and a dance routine that wouldnt have gone amiss in a Michael Jackson concert, earned Grinstead a well deserved penalty. A kick to touch and a good lineout found G’s mauling towards the Tiffs try line. Grinstead with a penalty had a free play and the backs used this to test the Tiffs defensive line again, which held strong. Play brought back for the Pen! In a call I could only imagine Sandy spewing about, Grinstead chose the lineout over a scrum on the 5m line. A great lineout by Totty and Tiffs unsure on what was going on meant Ryland found himself sliding over the line for Grinstead’s first try of the day. A hard day at the office so far, made harder by another Tiffs score almost immediately.

The game slowly running out of time, would see Oli with what is quickly becoming his trademark running line, splitting the defense in two with a darting run off John Peaty’s shoulder, easily dotting down under the sticks. Its a little too late, but showed the teams determination to not give up regardless of scoreboard.

It would be Tiffs with the final word as heads up rugby from the Tiffs 8 down the blindside, saw the team running over again for the final points of the day.

G’s, although on the losing side, should come away from the game with heads held high. We came into this league knowing every game would be a challenge and in that, we have learnt so much about ourselves and each other. The season rolls on and next weekend brings a game we should be targeting as a game to get ourselves back to winning ways.

MoM - Oli Billins - Its amazing what good kicking gets you!
DoD - Rory Evans - Not sure dry January is working out mate.
Captains Mention - Ben Tottman - the man was everywhere and hit everything. As a team we couldn’t have asked for more!