Wheatley Hills 12 – 30 Percy Park
Where could you hear Slipknot and Beyonce at the same gig? Answer - in the changing rooms at Wheatley Hills on Saturday. League leaders Percy Park prepared to take on the Doncaster side, with the growling Death Metal sounds emanating from the home side’s changing rooms as they whipped themselves into a pre-match frenzy. The visitors preferred the dulcet R&B tones of Beyonce and even a touch of Justin Timberlake. Wheatley Hills kicked off into a low autumn sun, looking to repeat last week’s performance which saw them progress in the Yorkshire Cup at the expense of National League 3 Sheffield Tigers. Percy Park’s 1st XV had a week off.
Park had all the early pressure, and a pin point penalty was kicked to the corner to set up a line out inside the Hills 22 The catch and drive was well executed and the ball moved back to Andy Dunn on the blind side, who barrelled over in the right hand corner on 3 minutes to open the scoring for Percy Park. Ash Smith just missed with the conversion attempt.
With ten minutes gone, Wheatley Hills had hardly ventured out of their own half, as Park retained possession. A scrum in the home 22 set up Park’s second score as Howard Stock went over in the corner. The scrum was solid, and number eight Greg Dixon picked up a fed, John Scott who passed to fly half Martin Shaw, Scott took the return pass and whipped the ball out to Stock to score. This time Ash Smith was on target with almost an identical kick to the previous attempt, giving Park a 12 – 0 lead.
From the restart James Ponton was taken out in the air and Percy Park were awarded a penalty. Moments later Gaz Burns, for the home side, tried the referee’s patience too far and was sin binned for a dangerous tackle on scrum half John Scott. At this point tempers flared and there were several off the ball incidents with the referee warning both captains to calm their players. Anth Dunn had to leave the field with a blood injury and was replaced by Sean Williamson who was only on the pitch for a few minutes before another fracas broke out and a player from each side was sent to the bin to cool off.
When Park were awarded a penalty on 37 minutes, Ash Smith kicked the goal to keep the scoreboard ticking over, but another penalty a few minutes later, saw skipper John Scott opt for a scrum and the young scrum half scored after Martin Shaw had made the half break in the Wheatley defence. The conversion was missed but Park were in command at 20 – 0.
From the kick off, prop Joe Wafer took the ball on, beating a couple of players before being taken out with a tackle without the use of the arms by Gaz Burns who had only returned to the pitch a few minutes earlier. The referee showed him a second yellow, and Wheatley Hills leading try scorer this season was ordered from the field of play.
Park continued to pile on the pressure and it looked as though John Scott had gone over for his second try, but the ball was held up. Nevertheless Park were awarded a 5 metre scrum which the Yorkshiremen collapsed, and the Central Yorkshire Society referee awarded a penalty try, which gave Park the bonus point. Ash Smith converted and a shell shocked home side went into the break 27 – 0 down.
The half time team talk worked for Wheatley Hills as they came straight back at Park from the off, with lock Penno breaking through the defence to score with only a minute on the clock. The conversion by Townsley brought the score to 7 – 27. Penno then scored his second in the corner, and although the conversion was missed, the two tries in quick succession gave the home side and their supporters a lift and a glimmer of hope.
Park were awarded a kickable penalty on 56 minutes which Ash Smith converted. Both sides were keen to move the ball, and several chances fell to both sides to extend the score line, but a combination of handling errors and dogged defence meant that no further scores were added by either side. The game had on several occasions descended into chaos, and when Anth Dunn was pulled back and lashed out at a Wheatley Hills player knocking him to the ground, all hell broke loose and a brawl ensued stopping play for several minutes before the referee could gain control. Dunn was shown a red card, but Jeffels for the home side was also sent off.
With the game nearing it’s end there were injured players strewn all over the pitch, and as the final whistle was blown in the growing darkness, Park were delighted to have gained a bonus point win in a real battle of a game.
At Preston Avenue Park Lions won 82 – 12 against West Hartlepool Bucks, The Marauders defeated Wallsend II in the league 33 – 19, and the Academy won 26 – 0 away at Billingham. Sadly the Pumas did not play as North Shields II turned up short of players and decided not to play.