Belgrave were an unknown quantity, as Grimsby had never played them before. After the previous weeks performance Grimsby were keen to get stuck in and stop a recent league run of defeats.
The game started well for the visitors, as an overthrown Belgrave lineout fell to the hands of Knight, quickly spinning it to Cairns running strongly at a good angle. The canny Scot split through the defence, and was able to charge away to score in the corner. Saunders narrowly missed the conversion. This was a good start but the large Belgrave pack soon started to kick into action. For some reason the normally reliable Grimsby lineout wasn't operating as usual, with Belgrave managing to get up and steal a large amount of Blue ball. Deprived of quality possession Grimsby started to struggle and were unable to bring their talented backs into the game. Belgrave started to press more and more, showing off a very impressive rolling maul that Grimsby just didn't have an answer to. It was from this maul that Belgrave were to score their first 2 tries. Gaining good possession in the Grimsby 22, they simply controlled their drive to score to the left of the posts in both cases. Both conversion attempts were missed.
As the game progressed the Belgrave pack continued to dominate, and the power of their front row started to tell. Grimsby were now struggling to compete at both lineout and scrum, and if you can't win clean first phase ball then you can't win at all!!
As the game moved into the 2 nd half, some of the Grimsby players started to lose their discipline- frustrated at the lack of ball they were getting, and also by several interesting interpretations by the match official, who was superbly marshalled by the home captain. Everytime Grimsby did manage to get close to the Belgrave line, the ball would be killed and any momentum lost. The game was also becoming more and more fractious, with lots of off the ball action going on. The match official eventually called both captains together and instructed them to calm their teams down. Belgrave continued to have the upper hand, and their next score came from a push-over try. Again, the conversion was missed. Grimsby refused to give up, and a series of moves form the backs saw several close attempts, but unfortunately the home side were able to snuff them out just in time. Skipper Edwards was doing his best. Leading from the front and charging at the opposition trying to spark some success. Grimsby attempted to sort out the problems in the pack, and brought on Kempthorne to replace Robson at tight head. Unfortunately this didn't have much effect on the scrum, and Belgrave continued to dominate. A further change saw Lee Burke come on the wing to replace Daly.
Belgrave had the upper hand, and scored another try from a 5 metre scrum. Despite the fact the Grimsby player had passed the ball to be cleared, the ref decided it had been touched in goal, so awarded the scrum to Belgrave. Their Number 8 picked up at the base and fed his support, who cruised over untouched, possibly with the aid of some subtle blocking by one of the flankers. The conversion was missed. This spell of injustice seemed to galvanise the Grimsby players. From the restart the ball was fly hacked back onto the Grimsby line, Saunders was there to gather, and started a move which saw almost all the team get involved. The backs took it on, then after Cairns had made a good run up the wing, he fed inside to Newman. As he was brought down just as the line beckoned, the ball was popped up to the ever present Whittard Norman, for the score. Saunders converted and the game was over, the home side winning 20-12.
It would be true to say that the better side won on the day. The superior Belgrave pack kept a stranglehold on the match, ensuring that Grimsby had no clean ball to work with. Grimsby now need to rearrange themselves and take stock. This league is a much more competitive one than Grimsby had to deal with last year. With a series of tough encounters in the coming weeks- league leaders Paviors, Midlands 2 Market Bosworth and then the long trip to Glossop- all formidable opponents, Grimsby have their work cut out. However, the team has ability, and once the pack win ball for the backs normal service will be resumed!!