Scunthorpe Colts 12 Grimsby Colts 15
With both teams having postponed league games, Grimsby travelled to old rivals Scunthorpe for a friendly. As usual with matches between the two clubs the game was fiercely contested with both sides determined to win.
The opening minutes saw both sides playing a fast ball game with some excellent defending with big hits from both sides. Grimsby opened the scoring on 12 minutes from a scrum deep in Scunthorpe’s 22. No. 8 Ash Rendall-Tyrell made a good run picking the ball up from the back of the scrum with scrum half Evan Picking in hot pursuit. Rendall-Tyrell was tackled close to the line but with Picking clearing out the ensuing ruck, the ball was made available for flanker Sam Fleming to scoop up the loose ball and dive over to score. Scunthorpe came back into the game and levelled the score just before half time with an excellent try from a back line move.
Just after half time Grimsby found themselves down to 14 men when centre Lewis Rothenburg was dismissed for retaliatory bout of handbags. This meant Grimsby were up against it and it wasn’t long before Scunthorpe went in front when their fly half spotted a gap in the back line and sprinted through to score. The added conversion put Scunthorpe 12-7 in front. Despite this Grimsby continued to press and also defended well often stopping Scunthorpe close to the try line. With 5 minutes to go and the game looking lost Grimsby surged forward and centre Brad Treacher spotted a gap in the Scunthorpe back line side stepping several attempted tackles and raced through to score. Scunthorpe then pushed Grimsby back into their own half but gave a penalty away in the dying minutes. Treacher took the penalty and with an excellent long range kick found the touch 5 metres from Scunthorpe’s Try line. With the referee indicating last play Grimsby had to hang on to the ball. From the resulting line out hooker Conor Simcock received the ball and almost scored but was stopped just short. Both teams heavily committed to the ruck with Scunthorpe defending frantically. The ball was played out to Richard Watson who powered over with several Grimsby players behind him pushing the drive. With piles of bodies on top the referee had a close look and awarded the try giving Grimsby the victory.