I stayed on at Shawsbridge for the afternoon game between Belfast rivals, Cooke and Grosvenor, in Championship 1. The cold wind had become stronger as temperatures fell under the floodlights.
Ball handling and kicking became a lottery as both teams struggled to retain possession.
Playing into the wind Cooke took the lead in the 5th minute when Ben Pentland scored from a driving maul to put Cooke 5-0 up.
Grosvenor had territory for long periods but couldn’t gain possession as Cooke rumbled forward in short drives, in their own half, running the clock down and looking forward to playing with the win.
Eventually Grosvenor put together a back movement. Jamie McNeight showed a clean pair of heels to the Cooke defence to score midway out on the right. Cameron Knell judged the wind to send over the conversion for Grosvenor to lead 7-5 . . .
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