Warlingham 0 vs 29 G-Force

Saturday 22 Oct 2011
London 2 SE

East Grinstead travelled to Warlingham on Saturday for a first versus second league clash. The bright sunny weather and excellent Warlingham pitch provided ideal running rugby conditions. It was also great to see a large number of travelling supporters.

Grinstead kicked off and immediately took the game to Warlingham with the Gs powerful forwards mounting a series of well disciplined drives forcing the home side to live off scraps of possession but with the game mainly being played between the 10 metre lines. Eventually Warlingham conceded a penalty which was accurately kicked to touch by McKenna. 

The Grinstead pack expertly secured possession from the resulting lineout and a great drive put the Warlingham defence onto the back foot. The ball was crisply moved along the backs and centre Downey spotted a gap to drive over from 10 metres to open the scoring on twenty minutes.  McKenna added the extras to give the Gs a 0-7 lead.

Warlingham now came storming back with a series of powerful drives of their own and it was only the superbly organised and committed Grinstead defence that prevented them from scoring. The back row of Tredgett, Levett and Hunt in particular were excellent creating turnover after turnover.  Slowly the Gs turned the tide and the boot of McKenna relieved the pressure on half time.

Warlingham kicked off the second half but the Grinstead pack were soon turning the screw on the home side. Grinstead won a penalty just outside the 22 and McKenna added to his tally increasing the lead to 0-10 after 50 minutes. Warlingham with the wind at their backs now launched a series of high kicks most of which were returned with interest by the Grinstead back three of Dunn, Crittell and Hampson. Grinstead were now beginning to dominate the game. 

A strong break from Groenen from halfway saw him carry the ball to the opposition 22 getting behind the Warlingham defence and the ball was swiftly recycled with Michael Tredgett on hand to finish powerfully from 10 metres out on 60 minutes extending the Gs lead to 0-15. 

Grinstead were now in full flow and a great break by powerful wing Dunn again saw Grinstead get in behind the Warlingham defence and quick ball to McKenna saw him ghost through the Warlingham defence. The ball was once again crisply set up by the tenacious Gs pack and Hunt linked brilliantly with the backs for Hampson to finish with aplomb in the corner. A great McKenna conversion gave East Grinstead a 0-22 on 70 minutes. 

With ten minutes to go Grinstead pulled out all the stops in search of a four try bonus point.  Another cutting break by Dunn saw the ball find McKenna who again cut through the Warlingham defence before unleashing a sublime reverse pass to scrum half substitute Hogben to score on his debut. McKenna converted well to complete a 0-29 win for the Gs. 

This was a fantastic team performance from The East Grinstead G-FORCE in both attack and defence against a very good Warlingham side and extended Gs league lead to 7 points.

Next week they travel to Old Dunstonians, kick off 3PM.

LONDON 2 SE RESULTS

We wish to thank Darrill from Wallpatches for some great action shots.  So to see all these great pictures, click the picture above or just visit wallpatches.