UUC clinched the Ulster Branch Qualifying 3 League with an excellent and deserved victory against fellow title hopefuls Grosvenor. They therefore finished with a record of 15 games played and 15 won.

The game started of at frenetic pace and it was evident early on that both teams were determined to play open rugby. Grosvenor had the better of the early exchanges with the UUC scrum in trouble early on.

With ten minutes of the match gone and after a period of sustained pressure Grosvenor managed to barge over the line from close range for a converted try.

Things looked bleak for the students but they kept the composure and tightened up there set piece work. From this they worked their way into the game and Alan Whitcroft kicked intelligently for position to keep them going forward.

At this stage both teams threatened sporadically but excellent defence from both sides prevented any further scores.

UUC were now looking for the next score and this came from a brilliant bit of individual play when second row Mike Dunleavy received the ball on the opposition 22. He chipped it over the top of the defence and showed superb pace to out sprint the covering defence and regain the ball to dive over for an unconverted try. 7-5 to Grosvenor.

UUC pushed hard for the remainder of the half and this was rewarded when Whitcroft converted a penalty to leave them ahead at half time by 8-5.

Grosvenor came out determined in the second half and UUC had to soak up a vast amount of pressure. Their defence was outstanding until eventually Grosvenor broke through for an unconverted score.

At 13-8 in Grosvenors favour, UUC tried to up the pace but couldn't break down a stubborn defence. Things then went from bad to worse when Dunleavy was yellow card and the UUC supporters must have feared the worst.

However the real character of this side shone through and with 14 men on the pitch they started to build phase after phase to try a break down the tight defence. Eventually from a solid platform the backs put together an excellent move to release Sam Hall in space, one on one, with his opposite number. There was to be only one winner in this race and Hall crossed the Grosvenor line to the great delight of the UUC players and supporters. The icing on the cake came when Whitcroft converted a difficult touchline conversion. 15-13 to UUC.

Grosvenor appeared to be somewhat shell shocked that with a man advantage they had surrendered the lead and if they had any thoughts of getting back into the game UUC soon showed them that they were in for a tough time.

Indeed after another sustained period of UUC pressure Grosvenor transgressed and Whitcroft stroked over a sweet penalty to increase UUC's lead to 18-13. At this point UUC showed a maturity often lacking in younger teams when they realised they had to control the ball for the remainder of the match and not give the opposition a chance to push for a winning score. It was therefore left down to the forwards to pick and go around the base of the break downs. This they did with great skill to run the clock down closer to full time. With Grosvenor deep in their half they did get one more chance to open play up but again the pressure from the UUC defence resulted in a knock on.

With this last play the referee blew for full time leaving the ecstatic fans to celebrate an excellent victory and league glory.

It was a credit to both sides in the way they approached this match and in the manner in which they played. This made for a super game of rugby which must have impressed the large crowd as well as the spectating Ulster Branch committee members.

UUC fully deserved the victory after a titanic battle up front against a larger Grosvenor pack and the cut and thrust between the two attacking backlines.

Great credit must go to all the players in the squad for such a succesful season to date as well as the hard work and commitment from Alan Mcully, Brett Campbell, Alan Simpson, Ross Parker and Skipper Jonathan Brown. They had to win the league the hard way having played 5 matches in 16 days and hopefully this will spur them onto defending their Gordon West Cup trophy against the same opposition on 18th April at Ravenhill.