Grosvenor In View Magazine 2025

84

SPORTS TEAMS

Grosvenor territory, with the introduction of Fraser Nicol in the centre, who showed his immense power, but also speed, as he skated in for a couple of scores of his own. A fantastic win, but again, areas for improvement were obvious and something to put in place moving forward. Belfast High School A bright sunny October morning greeted both teams, and it was Grosvenor that took the ascendency straight from the kick off where they collected and then gained territory. From a resulting scrum, Justin Bejenaru powered his way over for the first score of the day; it was all Grosvenor from then on as they controlled both territory and possession. That said, there were frustrating elements to Grosvenor’s play as they made poor decisions in open play, often carrying when they should have been looking to make passes towards the space. With a 24-0 lead at half time, the messaging from the coaching staff started to bear fruit and the desire to get the ball to the wings was much better. George Marshall and Tammy Olakojo were outstanding in the second half as they assisted in several try scoring moves. Jake Duncan, Christian Early, James Campbell, Sebby Hobson, Ollie Reid, Sam Baird and Justin Bejenaru all crossed the whitewash as Grosvenor ran out comfortable 46-0 winners. Ballyclare High School This was, quite simply, one of our most disappointing performances of the season. A late start on a Monday afternoon after a long day at school and there was nothing in this performance that demonstrated the improvements that had been made. Grosvenor were slow to react, second best in every aspect of the game and showed no desire or determination to make an impact on the game. The conclusion was simple; look at ourselves in the mirror, draw a line under the performance as unacceptable and come back better on Saturday morning. Bangor Grammar School It is always a tough fixture away to Bangor and this proved no different, especially as we were without our first-choice half backs for the game. This can often have a detrimental effect on the way the team plays and the continuity within the game; however, Sam Baird and Matthew McAdoo stepped in seamlessly and controlled the game for large periods. Bangor had threats in key positions and their inside centre in particular caused havoc with his strong and direct running. Bangor took the lead with a well worked team try, however, Grosvenor responded brilliantly with multiple phases of play as Lucas Adair picked a hole in the defence, cutting back against the tide of defenders and dotted down. More of the same followed with Justin Bejenaru on the end of another team score. The game remained in the balance but two second half tries made the difference. Josh Rickert going in unopposed following great work

firmly back in the game and it was Grosvenor that were now playing all the rugby and putting together some wonderful phases of play. Unfortunately, the full time whistle came too soon, and the comeback was unable to be completed with Down High winning 24-14. Royal School Dungannon Our first home fixture of the season saw Royal School Dungannon as the visitors and a game that Grosvenor deserved to win given the amount of possession and more importantly, the field positions they got themselves into. It was a physical encounter, but it was one that Grosvenor matched which was a huge positive given the previous couple of weeks. Daniel Bates showed a clean pair of heels on a couple of occasions having left the Dungannon defence for dead with his customary ‘show and go’. Three soft tries at the end cost us dearly and despite the 13 points from Daniel Bates, Dungannon ran out 17-13 winners leaving Grosvenor still searching for their first victory of the season. Cambridge House Our next game was also on the road, this time to Cambridge House which has always been a difficult venue for visiting Grosvenor teams. Coach Mr Cowan stressed the importance of starting well and no one did that better than Justin Bejenaru, who burst off the base of the scrum twice in the opening exchanges as he charged under the posts and put Grosvenor into a quick 14-0 lead. It was all Grosvenor from this moment on, as strong ball carrying by the forwards got us over the gain line time and time again. On numerous occasions the support runners were not there to capitalise; however, our ability to ruck and get quick ball gave us sufficient time and space to run in some excellent team tries. It was all one-way traffic as Grosvenor controlled both possession and territory and ran out comfortable winners with tries from Justin Bejenaru (3), Josh Rickert, Gideon Topping, Daniel Bates, Jacob Dunney and a first in Grosvenor colours for Lucas Adair. It was great to see all the tries converted also. Friends School, Lisburn Mid-week fixtures are always tricky affairs, as there is not the same amount of time to prepare and the ability to switch on quickly is often missing. That would have explained the number of unforced errors at the start of the game against Friends’ School, Lisburn; but eventually, Grosvenor took control of proceedings and again, with strong ball carrying by Justin Bejenaru and Jake Duncan, we got into the important areas of the pitch. Another rampaging run and touch down from Justin, followed by excellent build up play to allow Ted McClay to cross the whitewash gave Grosvenor a healthy lead at half time. Friends, however, didn’t lie down and fought back with a couple of scores of their own as we naively defended the blindside poorly. That said, a kicking masterclass from Daniel Bates in the second half again earned

GROSVENOR IN VIEW > 2024/25