North One East
Percy Park RFC 26 v Moortown RUFC 52
Alnwick 2nds 30 v Percy Park Lions 24
North Shields Crusaders a lot v Percy Park Pumas 0…game stopped due to uneven contest.
Park led by 7 then conspire to lose by 26. Our Lions just miss out in a cracker but our Pumas suffer at Shields.
Last week we conspired to surrender a nine point lead away to Huddersfield, surely we couldn’t repeat the same mistakes this week? At 26 points to 19 we were well in command of the game and at 25 minutes to go the faithful believed we could see this one out. By full time the faithful were in a state of shock….Percy Park appeared to capitulate and as the tries rained in, player coach Ash Smith’s angry tones could be heard far and wide…I guess he couldn’t believe it either. In an attempt to make sense of it all, the author spoke to a Moortown Coach, the referee, Ash Smith and a member of the faithful. This is what they said:
Moortown Coach: ‘’Park didn’t play the wind. We (Moortown) are not very good at defending against big forwards….but we didn’t have to. It was a surprise. We expected an onslaught and it didn’t materialise. The second half we knew we could play behind. If we played the wind well we would score tries and we did’’
Referee: ‘’ Percy Park started the second half playing probably their best rugby this season to take the lead. Unfortunately what followed next was 15 minutes of ill-discipline and it appeared as if Park had lifted ‘the foot of the gas’…they lost focus and Moortown did not need a second invitation, being the beneficiary of both points and territory.’’
Player Coach Ash Smith commented ‘’ Very frustrated. We attacked well and scored good team tries. Then??…..we need to man up and show less respect to the opposition and remember defence wins games’’
The faithful: ‘’We were good for 60 minutes but we failed to use the wind properly. Moortown in the second half played the conditions expertly and we stopped defending. 33 unanswered points from our opponents in the last 20 minutes says it all’’ ‘’ on the front foot we were good…had an edge and made ground…in the last 20 we didn’t defend. Our execution was poor and gave the ball back cheaply…and we paid for it’’
From the above its definitely not all ‘doom and gloom’…the common theme in our last two games seems to be a lack of focus as we near the end of the game. It appears as if we orchestrate our own demise. Work that one out and we will soon be back to winning ways….The fight and the race to stay in North One East is not over. As Paul’s trust in Jesus never wavered neither will mine in our beloved ‘black and whites’ …Keep the faith brothers and sisters (we do have a ladies team now and they are part of our fabric). So then how did this go terribly wrong?
The conditions for this game became difficult with a steady and increasing breath from Storm Ciara running the length of the pitch toward the sea. Park kicked off playing with the strengthening weather.
First blood went to Percy Park on the 10 minute mark with scrum half Ruairi Meharg the beneficiary of some poor Moortown defence. Deep inside the Moortown 22 Percy Park hit up before moving the ball wide right. Wing Ollie Stephenson made ground before being taken to the floor. Ali Blair picked up and went through the gap before being stopped near the try line. Ball presented and Ruairi dived over for the try. Good score and deserved, Ash Smith converted.7 nil to the home side.
It took Moortown 10 minutes to respond and in truth the try came against the run of play. A tidy catch and drive saw them over. The conversion was not taken. Eight minutes later Moortown scored again. Park were deep in Moortown territory, although they didn’t have the ball, they had taken the visitors to the ruck and were unlucky not to come away with it. A scramble pick up saw a charge at the Park defensive line. The player went through creating opportunity which was seized upon, eventually scoring toward the left of the goalpost. 7 to 12; but Park were still the dominant team.
The next try looked contentious from afar. Somehow we knocked on following a lineout on Moortown’s 22. The Moortown scrum went back and the visitors secured a bobbling ball to go forward. From a ruck they put in a long pass to the wing. A pass that put their player up against a prop and our defensive winger and he still got through, offloading to a supporting colleague. A kick through created the chase with Ruairi Meharg our chosen runner. The ball dropped over the try line and both players dived for it. From afar it looked as if Meharg had won the race however the Moortown player raised his hand in triumph with the ball well secured in his hands. The effort was converted 7 to 19.
Percy Park needed a quick response. Jamie Diamond, making his first team debut at full back, strode into the line with power and pace bundling defending players backwards. Meharg was quick on the support flicking the ball out to Ash Smith. Andy Dunn ran a great line on the angle and in receipt of the ball carved through, before offloading to Ali Blair to score under the posts. A really good try. Converted by Smith and we were 14 to 19 at the half
With confidence ‘a bound’ Percy Park started the second half really well. Another Jamie Diamond break, this time from inside his 22, saw him strip the opposition winger and then his opposing 15. With the break taking Park well into the opposition half, quick support had the ball flowing into the hands of marauding forwards, who thundered into the opposition with Sean Williamson providing the ‘coup de grace’. Ash Smith made sure of the conversion. 21-19 and Park had the lead.
We were playing some great rugby and Moortown could not get their hands on the ball in any meaningful way.
A great shortened lineout saw Austin Phillips power through ‘on the crash’, taking several players with before making a one handed offload to a striding Andy Dunn. With Ash Smith sensing that the Moortown defence was in disarray he chipped the ball ‘over the top’ for Seb Reece to run onto and score. The wind was beginning to swirl and although the conversion ‘had legs’ it was blown onto the post and out without notching the 2 additional points.26-19 and in control.
For some inexplicable reason we started to give away a few penalties…holding on…not releasing to name two. With the wind increasing the Moortown fly half started to take shots at goal. One effort collecting the 3 points. Buoyed by his efforts, every time he had the opportunity, he just pinged the ball down the pitch. Our inability to keep the ball was proving to be our undoing.
Park rang the changes. On a line out, just on the wrong side of the half way line, a throw in was called long and missed. Moortown jumped on the ball and drove deep into Percy Park ground. They kept the ball well, until a gaping hole emerged at the side of a ruck, and their scrum half danced through some inept attempts to stop him. Try scored and converted. Moortown were back in front at 26 to 29 with less than 20 to play.
From here Park ‘went to pot’. Moortown’s strike winger made a mess of our defensive line and with another penalty given away (offside I think) we found ourselves at 26 to 37 and it didn’t get better. A further try, followed by another penalty kick (playing the ball on the floor), had the faithful standing aghast as their heroes stopped playing. Another try ended the pain with the final result standing at 26 to 52 points.
As stated it’s not time to throw the ‘toys out of the cot’…for long periods we played well…really well…and Moortown were struggling to contain the Tyneside team. Belief is all and every game from now to the end of the season is a cup-final…I know we can pick ourselves up and get ourselves away from the bottom spots of the league all we have to do is…Keep the faith!! West Hartlepool away next week.
On the note that all is not ‘doom and gloom’…I will studiously avoid our Pumas score away to North Shields Crusaders…our Lions are having a blinding season….so if you want to have a little joy read on as ‘our Tim’ has a word (or two) to say !
‘’ Another terrific performance from the Lions up at Alnwick on Saturday, despite a howling gale this was fantastic contest between a youthful Park side and an experienced Alnwick team. Park took the field with nine teenagers in the starting 15 and their energy really shook the home side.
With the wind at their back Alnwick came at us from the off and their first visit into our 22 brought reward with some slick handling which saw a try in the right corner, 5-0. Kick missed.
The next 20 minutes or so was ‘nip and tuck’, playing into the wing Park kept ball in hand and their three quarters constantly made good ground, Jack Allen debuting at 13 looks a real talent. Allen was ably supported by Sutherland and Embleton on the wings. 30 minutes gone and a speculative kick through gave Ben Anderson at 15 a horrible bounce to deal with, the ball bounced into the try area and the chasing Alnwick support touched down for 10 points to nil. The conversion missed again.
Heads did not go down, back came Percy Park, ball retention and shape were good. The young back row were constantly on the charge and good presentation saw Jimmy Baldwin skip through the defence , pop to Andrew Walker who ran in from 20 metres, converting his own try for 10-7. Back in it. But as often is the way, a lapse of concentration saw Alnwick come straight back at us. A series of penalties eventually lad to a try under the posts, converted 17-7 at the half.
The mood was good, wind behind us and up for it. Smart territorial kicking put us into their 22. Our scrum was the best it has been all year and young Digman at 8 was making ground on every carry. He was rewarded for his efforts on 45 minutes going over, duly converted by Walker. 17-14 the game.
Alnwick weren't done though, they went back to basics and slogged their way up the pitch eventually scoring again on 54 minutes. The kick was missed so 22-14, still hope. Park, needing two scores won a penalty 30m out, Karl Thompson took the pragmatic decision to go for posts, a great penalty in the wind converted by Walker 22-17. Park were now in the ascendancy prepared to run everything. The Alnwick defences were creaking, slick interplay saw the impressive Jack Allen go over for a debut try in the left corner, and despite the conditions Walker converted again 22-24 to Park. 10 to go.
Back came Alnwick. We infringed several times in defence. When close enough Alnwick took the kick option and converted. 25-24 two minutes to go. Alnwick pinned us back again , and with nothing to lose we tried to run out from our own 5 metre , a deft offload unfortunately went to ground and Alnwick capitalised , despite some heroic defence they crossed again for the last score , and that was it 30-24 , what a game!
The game brought so many positives, the youth, the self-belief, the commitment when going behind, this team are really coming into their own. Next week Consett at home, If you don’t fancy the short trip to Hartlepool we are certainly worth a watch’’
Representing Percy Park RFC v Moortown from 15: Jamie Diamond, Chris McCabe, Ali Blair, Seb Reece, Ollie Stephenson, Ash Smith and Ruairi Meharg. From 8: Sean Williamson, Leo Caulfield, Andrew Dunn, Josh Hedley, Michael Langlands, Marc Cook, Jonny Dubois and Andrew Steinburg. Riding the pine: Adam Hay, Austin Phillips and Howard Stock