Rockcliff 0 - 29 Percy Park
Like most derby matches, this one was eagerley awaited, but in true fashion, delivered little by way of entertainment. The Boxing Day crowd was full of expectation and trepidation in equal measure after Park opened the scoring inside 40 seconds when former Rock winger Jonny Gould went over in the corner for the visitors, but for the next hour their was little for the Park faithful to celebrate.
Rockcliff defended admirably, apart from their opening lapse, and just before half time looked to have scored when Steven Scott broke through down the left hand wing and past his opposite number to touch down under the posts. The try was awarded, but then cancelled out as there had been a foot in touch earlier, and play was brought back to the half way line.
The home side's determination, coupled with lots of unforced errors on the part of Park, meant there were no further scores until the 60th minute, when there were one or two minor adjustments to the side, with Thomas Turnbull comming on at fly half and Ash Smith moved to the wing. Marcus Rutter and Michael Conn also came on at full back and scrum half respectively.
Rockliff had been under the cosh for most of the game, and a misplaced clearance kick found Rutter who ran past the first line of defence and then passed inside to Ash Smith on the switch, and with the Simon Gould conversion, normal service was resumed.
Park's young stand in winger then scored his second only minutes later after Turnbull found Griffiths with a well timed pass and the centre cut through the defence giving the final pass to Smith to score. Rutter kicked the difficult conversion attempt wide on the right and Park were now in a comfortable lead by 19 points to nil.
With about 10 minutes remaining Percy Park's player coach came on and scored a try after retrieving an over thrown line out ball at the back on the Rockcliff 5 metre line, Rutter couldn't emmulate his previous attempt but Park were now in front by 24.
Park had several more chances to score, the first when the final pass to Greg Dixon went behind him with the line at his mercy, then the normally safe pair of hands that is Ash Smith inexplicably dropping the ball in front of the posts with not a defender in sight.
The final score of the match came from David Griffiths after a quick tap penalty, and the ball was spun through several pairs of hands.
The final score line was about right, given that Park had most of the possesion throughout, and Rockcliff defended for long spells, but the game itself wasn't a festive feast of rugby for the sizeable crowd. Nevertheless, the game has a long tradition, with both Percy Park and Rockcliff having had their share of being on top, over the years, and despite the game rarely living up to the anticipation, it is a focal point for former players and supporters to renew old acquaintances and rivalries over a seasonal pint and long may it continue.