NORTH 1 EAST
DRIFFIELD 17 – 13 PERCY PARK
Week 9 of the 2015/16 league campaign saw Percy Park travel to East Yorkshire to meet Driffield, who prior to the game were in 10th place in the table, four places behind Park. Both teams have had a mixed start to the season, and the game itself was a good spectacle for the neutral spectator and could have gone either way, although the home side prevailed with Park coming away with a losing bonus point.
Park made several changes to their team due to injury or non-availability, with skipper Andy Dunn sidelined which allowed Jonny Dubois to start at hooker. George Purdy, Harry Watson, Ricki Hasnip and Kieran Sutherland all missed the trip, but coach Lome Fa’atau and Craig Smith both made their 1st XV debuts and both played influential parts in a much improved team performance than the last showing against Northern.
Park kicked off with the wind and sun at their backs and full back Michael Grove opened the scoring for the visitors with a third minute penalty. Both sides were playing an open and fast game but a trip on Ali Blair saw centre Alex Piercy sin binned on the nine-minute mark.
Despite the numerical advantage the home side did not concede any points until just before Piercy returned to the fray when Ethan Wilson stretched the Park lead with a try on 19 minutes. The move began as Ali Blair carved through the midfield and offloaded to Lome Fa’atau on the right wing. The ex-Samoan international cut back inside but was stopped short of the line. Ethan Wilson, who was originally named in the back row picked up the scraps and dived over for the unconverted try.
Five minutes later it was Piercy who crossed the line for the Kellythorpe side after a break down the Park left flank. Colin Lucas kicked the conversion to bring his side to within a point at 7 – 8.
The home side eventually got their noses in front after Park were reduced to 14 men as Josh Hedley was binned for a professional foul close to the Park line, and on 33 minutes Driffield full back Sam Furbank scored a try which was converted again by fly half Lucas.
Open side Craig Smith was making his presence felt and a break down the left wing saw him in space with the line at his mercy only to be brought back by the referee as Park were penalised for obstruction.
At half time Driffield led 14 – 8.
Early in the second half the home side were again reduced to 14 as number 8 Jess Harris was yellow carded for a high tackle, and eventually Park made them pay. Josh Hedley stole the Driffield line out ball on half way that gave Park a good attacking option. Ali Blair crossed for the try after a searing break by Lome Fa’atau left several Driff players in his wake. The conversion would have given the visitors the lead but the attempt went just wide.
A tense 20 minutes followed with neither side able to break down the other’s defence until Park looked to have broken the deadlock. Craig Smith intercepted a pass from the home side and sped 40 yards to the try line. He looked to have the legs to make the line but a superb last ditch effort by the covering defender from the left wing did just enough to unbalance the Park flanker as he stumbled just short of the line and the ball was spilled agonisingly short.
The game was held up a few minutes before full time as the referee was treated for a pulled muscle and Driffield had a couple of penalty attempts in the dying moments the first going wide and the second bisecting the uprights on 87 minutes for the 17 – 13 win.
Next week Park host league leaders Doncaster Phoenix at Preston Avenue kick off is at 2:15pm.