DRIFFIELD 43 - 34 PERCY PARK
Having won their previous two games , Percy Park met in good spirits to travel to Driffield . As is the norm , there were a few changes to the starting fifteen . Grove , Blair , Pike , Hasnip , Sutherland , Morse , Baldwin , Langlands , Caulfield , Williamson , Thompson , Hedley , Purdy , Dubois , Cook , subs , Saint , Warren and Ward . John Scott taking a well earned rest , but stand in skipper Wilson dumping his side in favour of watching the rugby at Wembley with his girlfriend !
On arrival at Driffield , there was quite a rush from the alickadoos to get into the clubhouse as they were 5 minutes late for their lunch ! It's the fastest some of them have moved in a long time!
Enough of that though , back to the game . Conditions were somewhat blowy , with heavy showers coming and going with the odd one being wintry . Driffield started with a bang , almost scoring with their first possession , but Park held firm and despite conceding two to three penalties , managed to clear their lines . However , Park put themselves under pressure when they conceded their 5th penalty with Ali Blair penalised for holding on in the tackle and he trotted off to share the warmth of the dugout; despite the numeric advantage , it was Park who dominated the next ten minutes .
A sustained period of pressure by Park resulted in them taking the lead . A Park scrum 10m into the Driffield half led to the first of many runs by Captain Pike . The skipper was brought down on the 22m line with the tackler penalised for not rolling away . Grove stepped up and 0-3 Park . Minutes later , Grove added a second penalty , after Driffield were penalised for driving up at the scrum . 0-6 . Blair returned to the field .
Back came Driffield . A line out on the Park 22 , followed by short patient drives from left to right , then back to the right saw the Driffield 10 skip around the bigger heavier Park forwards and slip the ball to a supporting back to score under the posts . 7-6 . The next score would be Parks . A Driffield attack was halted by a good tackle from Baldwin , the loose ball was picked up by Blair , the attack was continued by Pike and then by Langlands . A great pickup off his toes by Hedley sucked in the opposition but great composure from the lock allowed him to put Morse in the corner . A really good score that was followed by a really good kick by Grove . 7-13 HT .
Park were well and truly in this game .The second half though , was a strange affair . Basically , a combination of really poor tackling from both sides and sloppy ball retention , allowed 8 tries , 5 from the home side and 3 for the visitors . Unfortunately it was Park who made more errors and gifted the opposition 4 tries which ultimately cost them the game . These four tries I've mentioned all saw Park turn the ball over when on attack and a Driffield player race to the line unchallenged . It was very frustrating to watch . Parks D has been much improved this season and they will need to listen to Nili during the week and get it back to where it has been .
The massive positive was that they kept playing and MOTM Captain Fantastic Pike led the way with a couple of tries to help secure a try bonus point . Bonus Points are very important , more so in this very tight league , every point is crucial . Frustratingly , Park couldn't get close enough to secure a second bonus point going down by 43-34 . To put things into perspective , Driffield have a very strong home record , it is a difficult place to come to . Park know that had they played better , they could've taken more from the game , if not all the spoils . With 3 of the current bottom 4 sides providing Parks opposition in the next few weeks , renewed focus and determination in defence and making the most of the opportunities they are creating , Park will be back on the horse .