Snow halts rugby - AGAIN
- Scoop
- Category: 1st XV Reports 09/10
- Hits: 2736
MORPETH 21 – 3 PERCY PARK
With only four points separating sixth place and second bottom in North 1 East, this game was vital to both teams, but in the end it was the home side who took the spoils after a solid second half performance.
Park were without skipper Brett Sylph and Andy Dunn, both injured against Ilkley the previous week, so Michael Langlands moved to number eight and Tom Pollock came in at hooker. The visitors kicked off with the slope advantage, and for much of the first half dominated possession and territory, but could only come away with a solitary penalty from the boot of Rutter for all their efforts.
PERCY PARK 20 – 0 ILKLEY
In one of only two games to survive the weather in league North 1 East, Park ran out winners against a tenacious Ilkley who never stopped competing throughout, despite spending a good deal of the game with only 14 players on the pitch.
For the first quarter of an hour it was fairly obvious that neither side had be able to play any rugby for the last month due to the snow and sub zero temperatures which have swept the whole country. Park broke the deadlock with a Thomas Turnbull try and from then on in always looked likely winners.
The scene was set for a great day, a light sprinkling of snow, 140 members enjoying the club Christmas lunch, the trabant fully serviced, tuned up,polished and ready to go with all hopes high that by about 3:45pm it would be traded in for a newer model.
Well, I took some stick last week for the Clarksonesk metaphor concerning the performance against Darlington, so this week I'll stick to the facts.
City were deserved winners with 4 tries a conversion and penalty to Park's two penalties kicked by Phil Morse in the absence of Marcus Rutter who was sidelined due to a dead leg sustained in training on Wednesday. Although the Park pack utterly destroyed the Durham City scrum, there was no penetration and the back's apart from Scotty at scrum half and Griff at full back were poor on the day.
Let's hope Santa brings an early Christmas present next week at home to Gateshead.
Page 60 of 159