The home game was switched to West Park Leeds as the Cross Green pitch was not fit for two games. The heavy morning rain thankfully abated before kick-off.

Grovians suffered an early loss when flanker Will Broadbent was injured after just five minutes and was taken to hospital where it was confirmed he had broken his fibula.

Northallerton playing down the slight slope scored after 15 minutes scoring a push over try that was converted.

On 20 minutes Grovians struck back with their first attack into Northallerton territory. Max Kennedy made a break on half way. The ball was then recycled left with number 8 Ed King breaking through a high tackle to send in left winger Willem Johnson for a try on his Grovians debut. Ed Brown added the conversion.

On 29 minutes a Northallerton player received a yellow card for a high tackle and a minute later Johnson added a second try. Good line out ball was won and a lovely move right along the backline saw Johnson in on the left corner.

Four minutes later Johnson completed a debut hat-trick with a carbon copy of the previous try. Grovians led 17-7.

On the stroke of half time prop Paul Williams received a red card for a stiff arm tackle and Grovians were reduced to 14 for the rest of the game. Northallerton scored from the resulting penalty kick. At half time Grovians led 17-10.

Although down to 14 men Grovians had the lion’s share of possession and territory but couldn’t score the fourth try for a bonus point.

With a few minutes left Northallerton with a rare attack scored a try on the right to make it 20-15 the conversion being missed.

Coach Ali MacDonald summed up the game afterwards – ‘the win a combination of taking our chances in attack and game winning defence.
Playing up the slope in the first half, every time we got in their half we scored a try. Willem Johnson was on the end of fantastic multi-phase play to finish well each time. There were a couple of turning points in the game which halted our attacking momentum; the injury to Will Broadbent and the red card to Paul Williams meant we had to replace a back with a forward, just to maintain parity in the forwards and use a replacement very early in the game.
With Northallerton attacking and keeping us pinned in the boggy end of the pitch, a massive defensive set sapped energy out of Northallerton going into the second half. But playing the remainder with 14 men proved difficult in regards to launching attacking play.’

Two wins on the trot for Grovians and impressive debuts for Johnson, King and OIlver Parton.

Team:- Kennedy, Waddington, Pearson, Bentley, Johnson, E. Brown, R. Gaffney, King, Neal, Broadbent, Dodd, Carpenter, Kvedas, Crookes, Robinson
Res- Parton, Ziegler, Williams