Candy League 1
Gateshead II 12 = 24 Percy Park Lions
Question Number 5 . Which team , plays at Hedley Lawson Park ? Answers on a postcard to Christoper Mcdine ! The Lions travelled to the aforementioned ground to face hosts Gateshead , or Gateshead Fell as those with long enough memories will remember them as pre-merger . Question Number 6 . Who did Gateshead Fell merge with ? One thing for sure , Mcdine will never get that one !
Having played all of my mini rugby and most of my junior rugby at The Fell , it's always a nostalgic trip south of the river for me , but I didn't want the players to be anything other than focused on maintaining their good run of victories . Yet again C.O.R. Turnbull was pulling rabbits out of his hat for most of Friday night , with the 1st xv deprived of 5 of their previous weeks squad and the standard unavailabilities , only 12 of last weeks 21plus travelled to Low Fell .
'Mighty Jo' Wilkinson , Lenahan , Kidd , Nairn , Saint , Gerrard with the beard , Ben the colt , Henessey , Gilmore , Paul Daniels , Caulfield , Scott , Danil , Derek , Gould . Dryden , Micky Wright , Mark Whinfield and Ian .
There was a lot of hand shaking and introductions going on , as the group of individuals tried to get to know each other . A rallying cry from 'Chef Saint ', despite it being rather uncomplimentary about my old club , set down the marker in the dressing room huddle and out they went .
The early exchanges were pretty even . Park looked the more dangerous side , as they looked to attack at every opportunity . Park had Gateshead locked in their own 22 , phase after phase , eventually the pressure told , as the home side conceded a string of penalties . Each time , park took the tap , searching for the spaces that were beginning to open up . However , there wasn't a space when the ball found its way to Scott , but there soon was one as the powerhouse centre produced a huge hand off on his opposite Number and over the line he dived . Danil adding the extras . 7-0 .
Park continued to dominate , but their play lacked the end product and a lot of promising situations ended with a handling error or a penalty at the ruck . Gateshead suddenly had some ball and scored . 7-5 . Back came Park . They would score a great try from a simply executed build up . From a lineout , the ball was worked to left wing Caulfield who scorched past his opponent , as the opposition fullback lined him up Caulfield slipped the ball inside to the supporting Danil who dived majestically over the line . 12-5 .
The only other event of note in the opening 40 minutes was the sight of veteran Turnbull cramping up after 25 minutes . Resulting in an extended break for the players as top physio Rowland got to work on the old chicken legs ! Now Beth , it isn't funny to laugh at someone's misfortune especially when you are as close to the casualty as you were , at least wait till your back on the sidelines and we can both do it !! HT .
Gateshead obviously took confidence in the halftime scoreline and immediately put Park under pressure . Some non-contact tackling allowing the home side to level the score at 12-12 . Game on !
From the sideline , you could sense that collectively Park were getting frustrated with their own performance and with each other . So much so , that running back to restart , the two centres were having a right old hissy with one another . I guess pairing a 'Ginga' with a 'Latino' isn't the greatest idea , but it works . So it proved , putting their earlier disagreements to one side , the pair were creating havoc . Scott once again proving to be an unstoppable force , scoring his second try of the afternoon . 17-12 .
Park had weathered the storm . They were now back in control and were unlucky to not to increase their lead . Injuries were starting to take their toll on the opposition as well as Park , with Henessey having to be patched up and returned to the pitch looking like Pudsey bear . Scrummaging was temporarily uncontested , not the greatest thing to happen in a game when each of your front 5 are in excess of 20 stone ! However , that gave Lenahan the opportunity to escape the front row and pack down at No.8 . From the base , he took off , the departing Canadian surged past the rooted back row then through the fly half and bounced over the line . I'm sure I heard him celebrate as well !! 22-12 FT .
It was fitting that Steve should score the games last try , in his last Lions game for the club . He had tried ever so hard to mark this final appearance with a try , greedy so and so , never mind lads eh at least now he's gone you will get a bit more ball !! Steve and his family are returning to Canada and we wish them well in their future . His absence will leave a massive hole to fill , literally ! He has been without doubt The 'go-to' man for the Lions and has always lead from the front . He has played in countless positions , even this season he was already worn the following shirts , 2,6,8 and 12 ! Fortunately he hasn't had to wear the 10 shirt like he did at Northern a couple of years ago , but the least said about that performance the better !
Massive thank you to all of the squad on Saturday , but a special mention to young Ben who was quite outstanding on debut .