Percy Park Lions 15 – 7 Alnwick II
With a break in the league for 1st XV rugby, all eyes were on the up and coming players of the second XV; well not all eyes, as there was an international on TV between England and some touring team, so some found it difficult to prise themselves from the comfy seats. For those who ventured outdoors, there was some promising rugby on display from both sides, with Park holding out winners to advance their position in the Candy League Division 2.
So far Alnwick were unbeaten in the league with six from six, and Park had won all but their encounter against Gateshead II, so the match up between last years Northumberland No2 Cup finalists was likely to be a close affair.
The early exchanges were all in Park’s favour, with the young side having a good deal of territorial advantage, but the insistence on crashing the ball up, rather than spinning it wide, played into the hands of Alnwick, whose midfield defence was solid. It took a full 15 minutes of pressure before Park Lions eventually spun the ball wide to left wing Mike Baker who rounded his man to score. Paul Spowart stepped up, and the left footer calmly slotted the difficult conversion, having earlier surprisingly missed a penalty chance in front of the posts.
Despite having the lion’s share of possession, Park didn’t capitalise, and spurned several overlaps which could have resulted in a much wider margin of score. Spowart kicked a penalty on 32 minutes, but Alnwick hit back with a fine individual try by centre O’Grady who dummy and then stepped off his right foot to go through a gap to the try line. Toby Henderson kicked the conversion for the visitors.
In the second half Park scored again through Mike Baker after a searing break by full back Johnny Gould. A flat pass allowed the Park left wing to hit the ball at pace and race down the flank to score. The conversion attempt went wide.
Both sides had chances to score, and Phil Morse was unlucky to hit the post with a further penalty attempt. Park were down to fourteen men when Mal Donald was sin binned for over vigorously clearing a player out of an offside position in a ruck, but Park held on to their eight point lead and so deprived Alnwick of a losing bonus point.
With Sunderland II pulling out of the league, all of their games to date will be null and void, which means Park may slip a place in the league, due to other sides having played more games.
Next week the Lions play West Hartlepool Buccaneers who are undefeated so far this season. All of Park’s teams are in action with the 1st XV travelling away to Wheatley Hills. The Pumas take on North Shields II in a friendly, and The Marauders play Wallsend Warriors away, in league 3b