North One East

Alnwick 17 – 32 Percy Park

Percy Park turned the tables on fellow Northumberland side Alnwick with a dynamic 20 minute display after the home side led 17 -15 with an hour on the clock. Both sides had key personnel missing, but a strong Park bench enhanced the squad to good effect to secure another bonus point win.

The visitors had the chance to open the scoring but an Ash Smith penalty was struck wide. Alnwick then scored after a superb dummy by their fly half opened up a gap and Richy Elliot scored an unconverted try.

Ash Smith missed a second penalty attempt before wing Liam Blackburn, back in the side after a long term injury, struck on 30 minutes to tie the scores 5 – 5.

Park went ahead 3 minutes later when Ash Smith kicked a penalty, but just before the break Alnwick hit back with a controversial try hotly disputed by the Park contingent. The home pack had the edge in the set scrums and when Park were penalised for a collapsed scrum near their line, Alnwick were allowed to take a quick tap penalty which resulted in a try for James Hamilton.

Just before the whistle for half time Park were awarded a penalty as Alnwick were punished for being off side in open play, but again Ash Smith was off target in his effort to take Park into the lead at the interval.

NORTH 1 EAST

PERCY PARK 55 – 15 HORDEN

Percy Park ran in 4 tries in each half to come away with a bonus point win at the expense of league new comers Horden. The visitors were Champions of Durham & Northumberland 1 last season, but are finding the step up to level 6 difficult and prop up the table having lost several players in the close season, and also picking up injuries to key players in the first 3 league games of season 2014/15.

Park were on the score board inside 4 minutes when after a couple of phases of play Ash Smith carved his way through the Horden defence and offloaded to Ali Blair who stepped full back David Heckles to score under the posts. Smith converted and Park were in front 7 – 0.

The Horden pack was it’s usually large framed, but Park disrupted ant decent scrummage ball they could secure and their line-out didn’t function too well, so they had to live off scraps of possession. On 8 minutes when Park were penalised for entering a ruck from the side, Heckles stepped up and slotted the penalty to reduce the arrears 7 – 3.

Within 3 minutes Ali Blair had scored his second once again stepping the flat footed defence and Ash Smith converted. A minute later however, the visitors struck back with a try on the right wing as Cameron Stables rounded his opposite number to score in the corner. The conversion was missed and the score remained 14 – 8.

ILKLEY 24 – 15 PERCY PARK

Percy Park travelled to Stacks Field, one of the most picturesque settings for a rugby club in the North of England. The two sides last played each other in the 2009/10 season when Park won both encounters and the visitors had high hopes on the back of last week’s bonus point win at the expense of Rochdale.

Ilkley opened the scoring after only 4 minutes when a missed tackle allowed right wing Ben Magee to cross the line and fly half Josh Kimber converted.

When Percy Park were awarded an eighth minute penalty Ash Smith kicked the points. Park then went into the lead with a fine Alex Tilley try after the visitors turned over the ball and broke blind with Ali Blair cutting through the defence to set away Park’s right wing, who still had work to do to beat the defence before going over for the score. Ash Smith converted and Park led  10 – 7.

Both fly halves then missed penalty chances before Josh Kimber levelled the scores.

The teams were evenly matched but Ilkley seemed to play with a bit more urgency and as a consequence kept more of the possession and territory. Somewhat against the run of play Park broke out of defence with Alex Tilley, Ash Smith and Ethan Wilson all combining to put Ali Blair in space. The Park centre offloaded in the final tackle to find fellow centre Guy Pike in support, and he raced to the line for Park’s second try.

PERCY PARK 25 – 15 ROCHDALE

Percy Park started their North 1 East league campaign of 2014/15 with a bonus point win, centred round a superb 6 minute spell just before half time which saw the home side run in 3 tries.

Last season Rochdale had finished 5^th in this league, and could have been promotion candidates had they not suffered an 8 points league deduction from the RFU. Both sides had players missing due to injury or unavailability, but it was the visiting team that scored first with a penalty from the boot of James Duffy after Park were offside in midfield.

Percy Park dominated the set scrummages denying the Lancashire side good first phase possession. A Rochdale line-out in the Park half saw the ball overthrown at the back and the home side capitalised with man of the match Andy Dunn picking up the loose ball and finding Ali Blair who surged through the defence. The Park centre was stopped in the visitors 22 before off-loading to Ben Bell who passed to skipper Michael Langlands to score in the right hand corner on 24 minutes for a 5 – 3 lead.