Shield exit for CAI

Playing into a strong breeze the Coleraine side did very well to stem the pressure of a big and physical Grosvenor back. The boys showed patience, control and defended very well with the opposition rarely venturing into their 22. Coleraine had a number of opportunities throughout the half. Peter Wisener and Daniel McCreadie were outstanding and made a number of line breaks but careless handling errors and silly mistakes under prevented them from getting on the scoreboard. These mistakes became even more costly when a charged down kick lead to an easy Grosvenor try under the posts.

With a strong breeze behind them the side were confident of turning over their opponents if they stuck to their game plan. The second half got off to a great start with Inst kicking a penalty to make the score 7-3 with 25 minutes to play. Grosvenor kept the ball tight and Coleraine were repeatedly penalised for being offside. A penalty kick to the corner lead to a catch and drive attempt by the home side who easily pushed their opponents over the line. This was the killer blow and Coleraine failed to put any phases together from here on in and never looked like scoring in the final quarter of the match.

This was an extremely disappointing result for the coaches and the squad who have trained and worked very hard. Coleraine never really got going with a number of handling errors and some poor refereeing decisions preventing the side from building any momentum. Grosvenor deserved their win, played the conditions and the referee better and will be a hard side to beat in the quarter finals.

The squad can still be proud of their efforts this season and will enter the subsidiary shield with a point to prove. Thanks to Mr Hamilton and Mr Nicholl for all their efforts and also a word of thanks to the large travelling support who braved the poor weather conditions.