Match Report - Sunday 30th March 2008

Ealing 12 - Grasshoppers 20

G’s U17’s WIN PROMOTION

Ealing 12 - Grasshoppers 20This weekend saw Grasshoppers U17 play their final league game of the season. With promotion at stake, Ealing and Grasshoppers poised at second and third in the league respectively and only points difference separating the two sides, this match was the classic winner takes all.

Both sides were very evenly matched in the opening minutes. Ealing won their fair share of possession in the early part of the game but were unable to create anything that threatened Grasshoppers. G’s playing into the wind seemed to struggle to assert themselves, their territorial kicking was poor and when G’s chose to run, Cieran Clement-Pascal taking the ball at pace seemed to be the most threatening, the Ealing defence held firm.

After 30 minutes Grasshoppers “drew first blood”. Cieran received the ball after a dummy by flyhalf Tom Orishaguna. Tom then looped, received the ball, and off loaded to Darius Jafari who raced for the line to score his third try of the season. Sam Wedlock missed the conversion.

Ealing fought back and G’s struggled to maintain their authority and Ealing continued to try and recover the score before half-time. Eventually with only seconds on the clock Ealing crashed over for their first try. With score now level at 5-5 the referee blew for half-time.

Grasshoppers started the second half much better, running hard in midfield with big crushing tackles by the front five namely Max Bamber and Karl Fernandes prevented the big Ealing forwards from reasserting the control they had done before the break. Tom Orishaguna continued to be a threat and in the 50th minute sold a dummy and broke the gain line. He looked isolated when he spotted his brother on his far right; a fine pass was received by Matt Orishaguna who raced to score in the corner. Despite the difficulty of the kick Sam Wedlock converted putting G’s in front 5-12. G’s continued to apply pressure and managed to add a penalty to their points tally, taking the score to 5-15.

Ealing were not beaten, they came back at Grasshoppers picking the ball up and driving at close quarters. Grasshoppers struggled to organise their defence and Ealing eventually went over for their second try. They scored the conversion but G’s still remained in front 12-15.

As the game entered the last 10 minutes Ealing continued to pick and drive to salvage the game, they remained in the G’s 22 but Grasshoppers were not going to give this game away. Every man was required to make big tackles to keep the big Ealing forwards at bay none more so than John Royer-Harris and Callum McCormack. Ealing were still in control and were forcing G’s to give away a number of penalties which Ealing chose to run.

Eventually G’s won the ball and managed to kick it clear of their line. Grasshoppers were now in the Ealing half, there were seconds left on the clock and all the players exhausted. The tireless David Madigan ripped the ball from a maul and lead charge towards the Ealing line, he was stopped, the ball was won from the ensuing ruck and resulted in fullback Korede Okelana crashing over to take the score to 12-20. The celebrations were already taking place as the conversion was missed.

There was no man of the match. . . . . , everyone was superb. A big thank you to all the parents who have supported the boys throughout the season, driven them to games and stood in the pouring rain, when all you wanted to do was stay in bed and read the Sunday papers.

Grasshoppers – Alan Law, Perry Bispham, Karl Fernandes, John Royer-Harris, Max Bamber, Cieran Clement-Pascal, David Madigan, Callum McCormack, Sam Wedlock, Tom. Orishaguna, Matt Orishaguna, Brian Musonsa, Wajam Said, Darius Jafari, Korede Okelana, Hussain Qazelbash,

Match Report - Sunday 3rd February 2008

Grasshoppers 41 – Ruislip 0

Grasshoppers return to winning ways

Players unavailable with Rugby League commitments, some players forgetting that we play on Sunday and some just not turning up. . . . . . . it was with the bare 15 players that Grasshoppers welcomed local opposition Ruislip for this Middlesex and Hertfordshire League match.

G’s kicked off with the wind and were off to a flying start after only 6 minutes. From a scrum, the ball was fed to Tom Orishaguna, a well executed move saw Omar Joseph break free and dash for the line and score under the posts. Sam Wedlock converted. Ruislip immediately started to fight back and in a matter of minutes were inside the Grasshoppers 22 however a handling error saw the ball spill lose, it was scooped up by Hussain Qazalbash who raced 80metres to score the second try, but this time the conversion was missed. 12-0

Ruislip were very competitive upfront and Grasshoppers were finding it very difficult to break down the defence and create space for their pacey backs. Although Grasshoppers continued to dominate the game it was another 20 minutes before the next score came. A wonderful passage of play saw several players handle the ball before Darius Jafari was stopped in his tracks by the Ruislip fullback, but not before Darius had offloaded to “Big Max” Bamber who crashed over the line to score Grasshoppers third try right on the stroke of half time. The conversion was missed and the score was now 17-0.

Grasshoppers started the second half were they had left off and it was only 5 minutes before G’s new recruit, Brian Muzonsa, broke away beating the covering Ruislip defence to score in the corner.

Ruislip were determined to continue to battle and it was now that Ruislip produce their best passage of play of the entire game. The visitors managed to get into Grasshoppers 22 and remained there for 15 minutes. Had it not been for the great defence work of Karl Fernandes, Wajam Said, Perry Bispham, John Royer Harris and the rest of the Grasshopper pack Ruislip may well have managed to cross the try line.

Grasshoppers absorbed this pressure and eventually managed to work their way up the field back into Ruislip territory. It was again the backs who scored G’s fifth try, Matt Orishaguna joined the line from the blind side wing position; he broke the gain line by selling an outrageous dummy, before passing to Leonard Lambert who dived over for his first try of the season 27-0, plus the conversion 29-0.

As the game came to a close, it was Man of the Match, Matt Orishaguna again who was involved in two separate passages of play that saw him score two great tries far out on the right wing, of which only one was converted. The final score was 41-0.

Grasshoppers U17 have been nominated by the county and are now looking forward to competing in the U17 National Competition for the very first time.

Match Report - Sunday 6th January 2008

Grasshopper 15 – Leighton Buzzard 0

GRASSHOPPERS START 2008 WITH A WIN

This week Grasshoppers welcomed Leighton Buzzard, East Midlands U17 League Champions, to MacFarlane Lane. Both sides were taking this opportunity to put the Christmas break behind then and start the New Year with a solid performance.

The opening few minutes were very evenly matched with neither side showing any real dominance but then in the tenth minute Grasshopper fly-half Tom Orishaguna worked a simple switch move which allowed Omar Joseph to break away and race for the corner. The fullback made a great tackle, but not before Joseph had time to off load to the winger Scott Poulton who scored in the corner. The conversion was missed.

Grasshoppers centres continued to run at the Leighton Buzzard defence at every opportunity and it was only another seven minutes before a second try was scored by G’s. Chris Brown picked up a pop pass from Tom Orishaguna and crashed over very near the posts. Although the kick was easy, Sam Wedlock failed to convert it . . . . . . . 10-0 to Grasshoppers

The visitors did not drop their heads and the next 20 minutes saw Leighton Buzzard stepping up their game. They were getting the ball at rucks and mauls, and running hard at the Grasshoppers defence. However G’s proved themselves very strong in defence and this combined with a number of handling errors by Leighton Buzzard meant that the visitors had nothing to show for their efforts as half time approached.

The second half started with Leighton Buzzard half backs kicking and trying to keep the home side pinned down in their own half. For 10 minutes Grasshoppers were again forced to defend and on one occasion Leighton Buzzard nearly scored, they chased up a kick and won possession of the loose ball. They tried to force their way over but failed to ground the ball and it spilled over the dead ball line.

This seemed to spark G’s back into life, the forwards started to get and retain possession. Even with this procession G’s backs were unable to break down Leighton Buzzard and capitalise as they had done in the opening quarter of the match.

Leighton Buzzard had now run out of ideas, and a string of unforced errors began to take their toll as Grasshoppers seemed to be camped in Leighton Buzzard’s 22. As the game drew to a close it was David Madigan who sealed Leighton Buzzards fate when he picked the ball up from the base of a ruck and charged for the line, shrugging off two would-be tacklers before forcing his way over the line for G’s third try, again hoppers failed to convert the try.

Thank you to all the parents, friends and club members that turned out to watch the players that are without doubt the future of the club.

Grasshoppers – Perry Bispham, David Madigan, Alan Law, Jon-Luc Bacquenois, Ciran Clement-Pascal, John Royer-Harris, Karl Fernandes, Chris Brown, Callum McCormack, Leonard Lambert, Sam Wedlock, Tom Orishaguna, Karl Matthews, Korede Okelana, Omar Joseph, Max Bamber, Hussain Qazalbash, Daniel Stevenson, Scott Polton, Neil Constantine, Chuku Modu.

Match Report - Sunday 21st October 2007

Grasshoppers 23 – Twickenham 17

Great win for Hoppers U17’s

Grasshoppers Under 17’s welcomed local rivals Twickenham to MacFarlane Lane last Sunday morning for what promised to be a great game of rugby.

Played in bright sunshine and with conditions dry under foot despite the early morning dew, expectations were high for a fine open game from both sides; and true to form both sides served up a feast.

Twickenham came into this game as hot favourites as they have consistently been one of the best teams in and around the London region at this age group for several years, and as expected they started at pace and after 5 minutes scored a well worked try through their speedy backs and duly converted.

The home side responded by raising their work rate with some good close quarter pick and drive work by the forwards complimented by some astute positional kicking at half back by Sam Wedlock and Chris Brown. The driving play of the Hoppers pack was starting to pose problems for Twickenham and two indiscretions at the ruck saw Wedlock score two penalties to take Hoppers to within a point.

However, Twickenham again took the game to the hosts and after a series of fast rucks the forwards and backs linked to allow the left wing score a try out wide. The conversion was missed and at half time the score was a deserved 6 – 12 lead to Twickenham.

The second half started well for the home side through disruption at the kick off that saw the home forwards go on a couple of surging runs deep into the opposition 22. Again Twickenham handled in a ruck and Wedlock secured the easy penalty and G’s were now on a roll.

The next 10 minutes saw a period of concerted pressure from Grasshoppers with the forwards now making hard yards by driving at the heart of the Twickenham pack. It was during this period of play the lineout started to operate smoothly for the home team and following a catch and drive, hooker David Madigan burst through a driving maul to scramble in from 30 metres to score a fine try in the corner. Sam Wedlock kicked an excellent conversion from the touchline to put Hoppers in the lead 16-12.

This purple patch continued and within minutes Hoppers had scored again this time through impressive stand off Chris Brown who evaded a couple of last ditch tackles to score under the posts. Wedlock converted and the home side awaited the expected response from Twickenham.

Twickenham came back down the hill with a vengeance and only a last ditch tackle by Hussain on the flying Twickenham right winger thwarted a score.

By now Twickenham were throwing caution to the wind and running the ball from all areas of the field and Hoppers were doing their level best to hang in with some great tackling but pressure eventually told and the right winger was not to be outdone again and he scored in the corner for a fine individual effort. Unfortunately the score was not converted and final whistle followed with Grasshoppers winners but in the knowledge that they had played their part in a fine game of rugby against one of the best teams in the London region.

As Hoppers Coach Matt Gilmore said: ‘I am delighted with the performance today. The boys played to the game plan and stuck to it throughout. We were confident we had the strength in the pack to upset Twickenham but we were acutely aware of the threat of their outstanding backs and knew we had to apply pressure throughout the side if we were to stand any chance of winning against impressive opponents. Overall, a great game and credit must go to both sides for the show they put on today’.

Match Report - Sunday 7th October 2007

Grasshoppers 27 – Cheshunt 7

GRASSHOPPERS START LEAGUE CAMPAIGN WITH A WIN!

With a number of long term injuries and some very late Sunday morning cry offs, Grasshoppers knew that this was going to be a very difficult start to their Herts and Middx League challenge. Grasshoppers applied all the early pressure and it took only 3 minutes before an error by Cheshunt allowed Sam Wedlock to convert a penalty into three points. Grasshoppers continued in this vain with Wedlock kicking deep in to the corners. This pressure was finally rewarded when Omar Joseph made a break and offloaded to Ashton Oliver who crashed over for his first try of the season. Sam wedlock converted.

Cheshunt came back strongly trying to close the gap and had G’s pinned in their own third of the field. Despite all this pressure, Cheshunt had nothing to show for their efforts except three points from a penalty. Just as G’s seemed to have turned this around, another penalty was awarded at a lineout for dissent from the Grasshopper losehead prop. Cheshunt took it quickly and attacked, they managed to recycle the ball and one of their big forwards finally crashed over the line, this try was converted and with half time minutes away Cheshunt were now only 3 points down.

It was important that Grasshopper started the second half well and try to reassert the authority that they had shown at the start of the first half. This is exactly what happened and it was only minutes before G’s pack led by skipper Callum McCormack managed to get the Cheshunt forwards on the back foot. The ball was worked wide by the centres and it was Darius Jaffari on the wing who dived over to score next to the corner flag. Although the conversion was a difficult kick Sam Wedlock converted it, taking the score to 17-7.

Grasshoppers now tried to keep their opponents pinned down in their own half by kicking deep into Cheshunt territory and it was from one of these kicks that Hussain Qazalbash manage to pickup a lucky bounce and outrun the Cheshunt defence to score under the posts, but the easy conversion was missed by Sam Wedlock.

Cheshunt continued to battle on and but for a few handling errors they may well have scored on a number of occasions. As the match came to its closing minutes it was Grasshoppers tight head prop Jamie Archibald who had the final say. He was loitering on the wing and collect apass from his skipper to scored the first try of his rugby career. The conversion was missed and Grasshoppers had won their first league game of the season 27-7.

Grasshoppers – Perry Bispham, Jamie Archibald, Ciran Clement-Pascal, John Royer-Harris, Karl Fernandes, Will Ollason, Callum McCormack, Leonard Lambert, Sam Wedlock, Matt Orishaguna, Korede Okelana, Omar Joseph, Ashton Oliver, Hussain Qazalbash, Darius Jaffari