“Hoppers Have to Settle for a Draw”

Seniors: First XV: 7th March 2026

Grasshoppers travelled to Oxfordshire to play Aylesbury from Buckinghamshire in what proved to be a tense game in which G’s led for most of the game until Aylesbury levelled it during its dying embers.

So, it was Aylesbury who kicked off but G’s took the game by the scruff of the neck and were rewarded with an unconverted try from winger, Cameron Isenberg to make it 0-5. However, Aylesbury responded showing how formidable their forwards were and took the lead with a converted try to make it 7-5.

G’s second try came from flanker, Deji Olajide taking a quick penalty and with the conversion from stand-off, Charlie Lecuyer G’s went ahead 7-12 and widened the gap to 7-19 when centre, George Cubitt made ground then passed to full-back, Chris Brown who set winger, Noah Bell away from 40 metres out.

G’s looked good at this stage with Deji Olajide and prop, Lewis Perkins making ground whenever they got the ball. However, Aylesbury levelled the score at 19-19 thanks to two tries and a conversion. G’s though, broke the deadlock with a well taken try from scrum-half Finn Skinner and the Charlie Lecuyer conversion made the half time score 19-26.

G’s started where they left off in the second half as Deji Olajide got his second try converted by Charlie Lecuyer 19-33. Aylesbury wouldn’t lie down and so pulled the score back to 26-33 with a converted try. Then winger, Noah Bell followed up on a kick forward and snapped up the loose ball to go in under the posts to make it easy for Charlie Lecuyer to convert to make it look like G’s were home and hosed with 20 minutes to go at 40-26.

However, Aylesbury hadn’t hadn’t read the script and with a combination of G’s mistakes and strong Aylesbury forward play, the score moved to 28-40 thanks to two Aylesbury tries and one conversion. G’s were able to strike back with a well taken penalty from the boot of Charlie Lecuyer to give them the edge at 38-43. G’s defended well in the last throws of the game but couldn’t prevent a final try from Aylesbury to draw the game at 43-43 and as the conversion went wide it looked like the draw was set in stone but G’s had the chanced to take it themselves with a not easy penalty which also sailed past with both sides sharing the spoils with three points each. There was though another outstanding performance from second-row, Guri Lewis making his debut for the first team.

Two other team performances over the weekend need to be noted

1. G’s Under 16’s became champions of League D2 for season 2025-26 and

2. G’s Women beat Teddington 29-31 making them still top and undefeated in their league.

It’s a 6 Nations rest next week and G’s return with a home game against Windsor on 21st March.