Candy 2
Percy Park RFC Lions 65 v Novocastrians 2nd XV 14
No Strange things as Lions net eleven
The unbeaten Lions dispatched Novos II in style on Saturday. Hat tricks for Skipper Andrew Cl\yde and centre Paddy Hargreaves made for a one sided affair. On 3 minutes Clyde powered over and was converted by Phil Morse 7-0. On 9 minutes Morse went over himself and duly converted 14-0. Five minutes later Clyde was over again on the left. On 17 minutes he completed his hat trick after great work by the returning Andy McGrath who broke through and with a deft offload but Clyde in under the posts .
The conversion by Morse ,at 17 minutes gone and 26-0 up . Five minutes later good work by the backs saw Paddy Hargreaves cross for the first time , converted by Morse 33-0.
Fair play to Novos, harsh words were had under the posts and they briefly rallied , working their way up the touchline with a series of penalties and then a defensive lapse saw their No 8 cross under the posts, the kick was good 33-7. The Lions responded in the best possible way, Novos failed to deal with the kick off and the impressive Pete Basara crashed over, before Toby Davison added another. 43-7 at half time.
We wondered if the same momentum could be kept up , shouldn't have worried Two minutes in and Hargreaves was over again . The platform from the pack was great and the backs were starting to run at their opponents from everywhere. On 50 Ollie Stephenson crossed and ten minutes later Hargreaves bagged his hat trick converted by Morse . Five minutes later Phil crossed again 65-7 .
The last few minutes saw a fairly drab affair Novos got a consolation try before they were put out of their misery Final score 65-14 .
It is fair to say we will play much better teams than Novos this year, but a job well done and the Lions consolidate their lead at the top of Candy2 . Some great individual performances particularly Alex Lamb who had his best outing of the season. Well done .
Representing Percy Park RFC:
From 15: Toby Davison, Dan Jackson,Paddy Hargreaves, Ollie Stephenson,Stephen Turner Phil Morse and Joe Cassidy
From 8: Andrew Clyle,Andy McGrath,Sam Hutley, Phil Harrison, Mark Sanderson,Ben Morris,Peter Basara and Alex Lamb
Finishers: Joe Wilkinson,Steven Dryden and Danny Simpson.
