Ben Hardisty took his family to Twickenham for the day to witness the Mighty G-Force put East Grinstead on the rugby map with an awesome performance in the RFU National Intermediate Cup Final defeating Yorkshire side Ilkley RFC.
Report courtesy ThisisSussex.co.uk….
East Grinstead RFC are celebrating after winning a dramatic RFU Intermediate Cup Final at Twickenham this afternoon (Saturday).
Grinstead came from behind twice to defeat Ilkley 34-18 in a pulsating match, running in four tries in the process.
It was the Yorkshire side that started brightest though, with Philip Howell giving his side a 3-0 lead with a penalty in the eighth minute.
John-Henry Johnson soon made it 8-0 after evading a couple of tackles to crash over in the corner, before Howell slotted over another penalty to make it 11-0 after just 21 minutes.
But G-Force came storming back with two converted tries in quick succession.
First, Adrian Hogben went over following a good offload from Josef Manak, before a good break saw Karl Gleave run in his side’s second try of the match.
Rick McKenna converted both to give his side a 14-11 lead at the break.
But their Yorkshire opponents came back strongly early in the second half and regained the lead with their second try of the match – Stephen Burns going over, with Howell adding the extras for 18-14.
Rick McKenna pulled his side back to within a point just three minutes later, before Walter Downey crashed over under the posts to regain the lead for his side.
McKenna added the extras from in front, before going over himself and again adding the extras to give his side a 31-18 lead with just 15 minutes remaining.
McKenna then struck a drop goal to put his side 16 points ahead and G-Force never looked back, seeing out the game to secure their second piece of silverware this season, following on from the London Two South East title.
