Percy Park Pumas v Winlaton Saxons
Pre-Match craic:
- West Hartlepool 2s late cry off ensures there are a few bodies for the bench.
- Colts continue their integration in to the senor sides ensuring there is no shortage of pace.
- Skipper Jake Smith continues his good form in the 1xv Team so team led by Mark Sanderson.
- Winlaton disrupted by our near cry off!
- Father and son duo Steve “that’s my boy” and Harry “that’s my dad” Harrison made a welcome return to Park albeit locking the Winlaton scrum and Justin rolled back the years taking up residence on the Winlaton wing …
On a day ideal for expansive rugby a very young Pumas team containing 10 under 19s welcomed a very experienced Winlaton Saxons. Had the game been at Winlaton on a cold wet day the result might have been much different, but with a bright sun, light breeze and surprisingly firm pitch the quicker Park team took every opportunity to stretch their older opponents to breaking point.
Park started with a bang, colt Josh Urwin causing chaos out wide. Following a couple of early tries Winaton tried to tighten up the game; however 18 yr old debutant prop Jacob Dunsdon was causing them problems at the scrum so their options were limited.
Quick ball from the colts half back paring of Steven Turner and Andrew Walker ensured the tempo of the game never dropped - the only respite in the 1st half being a break in play as Park changed into a red strip. The tries continued, hardworking colt Travis Bowart belied his age with a couple of block busting runs which left defenders sprawled in his wake and not to be outdone James Barker used his power and pace to repeatedly break through the first line of Winlaton defence.
The second half was much tighter and after a couple of Park tries Winlaton registered probably the score of the game when Steve Harrison rolled back the years, chose an acute line and smashed through the Park defence to crash over the whitewash. However, his chance of a brace was thwarted by the tackle of the game; Harrison once more took a short ball at pace but was bravely stopped by colt James Finn who literally put his body on the line. Given that the game was out of site this was a fantastic example of the commitment shown by the young colts. Park ran in a couple more tries but the commitment of the Winlaton defence was taking its toll and the game ended with Park fielding the versatile Shaun Nairn on the wing!
We have not bothered publishing the score as it was irrelevant; however we would like to extend a huge thank you to Winlaton for the spirit, commitment and humour they displayed - they epitomise the attitude we try to instil in our younger players.
Finally in addition to the youngsters playing against Winlaton a further four of last year’s colts featured the 1xv win over West Hartlepool. We should thank all the youth and mini coaches and parents for their continued dedication to the Club.