Revenge is sweet for the Black Horse against Grammarians

Following a good spell in January the Black Horse were looking for a positive result against fellow one team club Old Grammarians. Having lost away from home already, the Horse were intent on picking up revenge in what is always a tightly contested fixture. Today was no different. The first twenty minutes saw the ball remain squarely in the middle of the pitch, with both sides struggling to make any significant breakthroughs. With 25 minutes gone the Horse picked up the first try of the game. After a line out and a few phases from the forwards, Kiwi hooker Sam White ghosted in to score his first try for the club. This swung the momentum in the Horses favour and they pushed for a second try. They settled for a penalty with a couple of minutes of the half left but this was missed by Isaac Aitken, to make the score 5-0 at half time.

A few choice words at half time from the skipper had the desired affect and the horse started the second half strongly. Firstly Adrian Lee got himself on the scoresheet. For regular readers you're probably wondering where "from 5m" has gone from that statement. Ben Brown stated after the game that this was the furthest out try he had seen Adrian Lee score in over ten years of playing rugby with him. Some said it was 40m, i would say more like 25m. But i digress. Adrian Lee picked up the ball from 25-40m out, increased pace and broke a sweat for the first time in the game to score the Horses second try.

The Horse didn't let the shock or disbelief of that try get in the way of winning this rugby match and shortly after they scored their third try of the game. Numerous penalties saw the horse make it to 5m out and eventually Danny Mig went over to give the horse a 19-0 lead with twenty minutes to go. Protesting the try saw the Grammarians skipper yellow carded and the horse felt victory was in sight. However the side with 14 rallied and two quick tries pulled the score back to 19-12 with just over ten minutes to play. The game was end to end and neither side could add the finishing touch. With no time remaining Grammarians broke and three saving tackles from Gregor Noblett, Ben Brown and Danny Mig stopped what looked like an inevitable try. The latter knocked himself unconscious in doing so, inadvertently costing Gregor Noblett a try as he broke away. However the game was over and Black Horse had won, 19-12.

A great game, closely contested and well fought by both sides. The Horse now move in to February with a friendly and a push to keep climbing up the league.

MOM - Gregor Noblett, for mugging off their 12 and general all round great play
WOM - Isaac Aitken, for going back to NZ for 8 weeks