Instonians displaced their Cooke at the top of the Ulster Rugby Championship Division 1 with a four try win against Grosvenor at Gibson Park on Saturday afternoon.
We covered the first half of this entertaining game and it looked for long periods that the home side were going to take this one.

Instonians had considerable set piece dominance, particularly in the scrum, but it was their fleet of foot hosts who opened the scoring as their left wing went over in the cornet for an unconverted try.
The visitors continued to dominate territory and possession with Matthew Keane and Robert Whitten prominent but the final pass continually went astray and Grosvenor always looked dangerous on the break.
The visitors finally got their act together after the first water break and they started the second quarter with a fine try by Keane after a big carry from Whitten. Keane added the extras to take the score to 5 – 7 in Inst’s favour.

However, Instonians handling errors crept back into their game and Grosvenor finished the first half with a 12 – 7 lead after a try from their right winger, converted by the scrum half gave them the edge as the teams changed ends.
I nipped over to cover the Malone game then but Instonians must have got their passing act together in what sounded like an entertaining second half, from my vantage point on the other pitch. Keane crossed for a second converted try and Whitten and Ryan Hanson also crossed for converted tries for a 19 – 28 win, Grosvenor mauling over for a late try.
Gallery Below
Ulster Championship D1 Results Week 1
| FRI 27 AUG | Cooke | 10 | – | 5 | CIYMS | |
| SAT 28 AUG | Ballyclare | 10 | – | 14 | Clogher Valley | |
| SAT 28 AUG | Carrickfergus | 26 | – | 27 | Dromore | |
| SAT28 AUG | Grosvenor | 19 | – | 28 | Instonians |
Ulster Championship D1 Standings Week 1
| TEAM | P | W | D | PD | BP | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instonians | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 5 |
| Dromore | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Cooke | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Clogher Valley | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Ballyclare | 1 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 1 | 1 |
| C.I.Y.M.S | 1 | 0 | 0 | -5 | 1 | 1 |
| Portadown | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Enniskillen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carrickfergus | 1 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 |
| Grosvenor | 1 | 0 | 0 | -9 | 0 | 0 |


















