Regional 2 North
Carlisle RFC 24 v Percy Park RFC 31
"Sublime feet save the day"
As the author of this missive was away ‘In the Fax’ with his little tarantula, preparing for her imminent and joyful return home through retirement, we decided to send two mystery reporters to the game. Blending in with the faithful, in resplendent black and white regalia, our intrepid columnists recorded a mix bag of thoughts on a game that was only passed as playable at 10am. Heavy rain and strong winds had created doubt, although the rain had passed the strong syphers remained in play. Carlisle 'won the toss' and went with the tornado at their backs. The touch judges flag doing their best to head east.
The home side scored after only 5 minutes. A good line broke the Park defence to score under the posts. Conversion 7-0. Carlisle doubled their score 4 minutes later from a catch and drive line out. The conversion was good, 14 – 0 down. Not a good start at all!
In the opening salvos Percy Park had no possession. The home side drove at the visiting side quickly attracting a penalty. They went with the scrum and it was a good call. Park are usually dominant in this area yet Carlisle got the nudge. Pressure from the Carlisle 8 resulted in another penalty and another scrum. Forward pressure generated the try. Percy Park were living dangerously they had not even managed to get out of their own half. Carlisle were dominating the forward exchanges and Percy Park indiscipline resulted in yet another penalty. Certain members of the black and whites began to bicker which did not engender team cohesion. The penalty went to the corner where the home sides colossus at fly half was driven over by the remaining 14 of his team mates for someone to score.
The chat on the bus according was good and our boys seemed up for it having been reminded of our Huddersfield YMCA nightmare. However the pessimists amongst the faithful could see it written in the runes; beat league leaders one week and lose the next game to a side that hasn’t won all season! We needed a response and fortunately we got it.
Meaningful possession attracted two penalties in quick succession and from the resultant lineout Percy Park went along the line with the ball nestling in the hands of a ‘hanging’ Kieran Sutherland’s. Thankfully Kieran hadn’t expended all his strength on a wild night out with his girlfriend, displaying real muscle in breaking several desperate tackles to score to the right of the posts. To all observing it was an excellent finish! The try converted from out wide. 14-7.
The game became a bit disjointed as Park elected to throw the ball around in a 40-mph wind instead of ‘sticking it up the jumper’ and targeting their 10. The insistence on spraying everything wide 'asap' was giving the drift defence an easy day. Their fly half , Jason Israel, was a good player but not very mobile. Mistakes and knock ons littered our play until 25 minutes in we secured a line out deep in the Carlisle 22. This time short passes along the line returned the ball to the impressive Sutherland. Instead of shaking off attempted tackles, sublime footwork (muscle memory from his night in the Toon?) took him past 3 defenders to score in almost the same place as try no 1. Try converted 14-14.
Percy Park could not kick-on from the equalizing score and after a period of very scrappy play Carlisle, with a bit of go forward play, scored following a kick through and a race to the try line (although to some of the ‘faithful’ there appeared to be a hint of a knock-on in the build-up). Centre Nathan Greenhow being awarded the try.
With half time approaching poor play from ‘the black and whites’, and indiscipline, led to a Carlisle penalty A line out taken on the 5m line. We were grateful that the Carlisle throw was 'overthrown' and the ball eventually cleared.
At the turn the Percy Park bench decided to shake things up. Playing with the wind the travelling faithful were hoping for better things.
After only a minute in, we were awarded a scrum as the kick off failed to go 10. Park attacked and the ball found Howard Stock on the right wing who beat his man and raced away. The player could have scored easily in the corner but chose to step inside, showing great feet (another one who had been out dancing) to beat another 2 defenders to score under the posts. A fantastic individual try. The score converted by Paul Spowart. 19 -21.
With the wind at their backs Percy Park began to find some rhythm and Carlisle struggled. It was obvious to all that the conditions were telling and effecting performance. A Paul Spowart penalty extended the lead.
Josh Hedley was having an influence. A very aggressive hit had a Carlisle player rocking and insured Park were on the front foot.
After a very poor start to the second half, the Carlisle 8 started to put the pressure on. A Percy Park defensive scrum in the 22 was lost against the head with a resulting Carlisle penalty being put into the corner. A messy lineout resulted in a Carlisle 5m attacking scrum but excellent defence saw Percy Park turn the ball over and clear their lines.
The game became fairly even. Carlisle were confident in the scrummage electing to go for scrum penalties instead of kicking points Percy Parks penalty count was concerning. Although we were putting some phases together ill-discipline at the breakdown was proving costly.
On 65 minutes the ‘faithful’ were on their feet believing Park had scored a bonus point try. A penalty into the corner with an excellent take at the lineout had Percy Park driving over only for the Carlisle tighthead to come away with the ball!
That defensive effort seemed to give Carlisle extra energy and for the next 10 minutes they played the game in our half, in and around our 22, but they lacked any real incisive play. When it did look as if they were in a dangerous position they twice gave away penalties enabling the away side to clear their lines.
The game ebbed and flowed until Paul Spowart put Captain Seb Reece over the line with a kick through and chase. Seb getting the touch down in a pile up over the line. Conversion taken.19 -31. Five minutes to go.
We conceded a number of penalties. Carlisle kicked to touch and advanced to our 5-metre line. Josh Hedley nicked the line out and we kicked to relieve the pressure. Another chip and chase this time by Carlisle saw them score on 80 minutes. The conversion missed. Final score 24 – 31.
An unconvincing performance where nobody stood out. Percy Park probably thought that all they had to do was turn up and a bonus point win was guaranteed but Carlisle (without a win this season) ripped into them and were quickly 14-0 to the good! Overall, the Carlisle pack gave a really good account of themselves and Park had to work hard to contain them. A lot of our play in the backs seemed to have no structure with handling errors and ill-discipline hindering any effective play. On the plus side, a BP win with our two wings taking their tries superbly well and worth the admission price alone!
Representing Percy Park RFC:
From 8: Leo Caulfield, Jake Smith, Niall Combe, Chris Reekie, Michael Langlands, Matty Atkinson, Jonny Dubois and Aaron Smith
From 15: Jamie Wrigley, Howard Stock, Seb Reece, Andrew Walker, Kieran Sutherland, Paul Spowart and Joe Cassidy.
Finishers: Dan Shuttleworth, Tristan Grant and Josh Hedley.