Lincoln II 60 Grimsby II 19
Grimsby travelled to Lincoln with a team thrown together due to key players missing, who were either moved up to the first team that morning or were helping in the wedding ceremony of Vinny Thornton. That said, the team that went was full of players large enough to strike fear into most teams. Unfortunately, Lincoln were imperious in the first half, showing good running lines and good off-loading to score 36 unanswered points in 33 minutes in the first half. Things got even worse for Grimsby when they lost the experienced ox that is Nigel Kempthorne, on the half hour mark through the oldest knee injury in rugby. Montague followed soon after on 36 minutes through a harshly given yellow card.
The second half saw a much better display for the visitors in blue. Lincoln scored from the kick-off but, with a full compliment back on the park, Grimsby managed to keep hold of the ball and run at the home defence. The larger players made significant in-roads through the gain line before 3rds skipper, Scott Chambers, powered through to score Grimsby's first points just to the right of the uprights leaving Spreadbury an easy conversion. This score boosted the Grimsby players and they seemed to relax with the ball. Unfortunately, Lincoln capitalised on that and scored in the left corner. Grimsby didn't drop their heads and continued running hard and a good interplay between forwards and backs, using the full width of the pitch, created a well-taken try by the front row Nathan Turner. He drove hard at a couple of Lincoln defenders and twisted out of another tackle to score to the left of the posts, Spreadbury converting. The visitors took the ball back from the kick-off and, after continued pressure where they could have scored numerous tries, Turner put his front row colleague, Bob Emmo in to scamper over the line. Lincoln hit back, gaining ground through silly penalties and poor decision making by the visitors and fought their way up to the Grimsby line. The centre took an excellent line to split the defence before Macdonald managed to wrap the ball and man preventing the ball from being grounded. The referee had other ideas and controversially gave a try to Lincoln. The last try of the game came from Lincoln seven minutes before the end of the game to sew up a convincing scoreline.
Although not a good result, the Grimsby players showed heart right to the end of the game, which can only be good for future weeks.
The team's performance can only be improved through as many players as possible taking advantage of the coaching now being offered at the two training sessions. Second team captain Ian Macdonald wishes to express his gratitude to all the 3rd team players involved. Every player from 1-15 showed true team spirit and fought hard until the final whistle.
The Pavilion, Springfield Road, Scartho, Grimsby, NE Lincs, DN33 3JF