PONTEFRACT 20 – 24 PERCY PARK

Last season Pontefract did the double over Park, but this time the black and whites were looking for revenge. With half the job done with the resounding 68 – 24 win at home back in October, Percy Park travelled to Moor Lane to complete the double which they did, but not without a few nervous moments at the end of the game.

Park rested Thomas Turnbull and Ash Smith, who were originally on the bench, but a late cry off by Craig Firth with a back injury meant Ash started at outside centre and Adam Fidler was called up from the Lions. Marcus Rutter started at full back after being replacement in the previous two games.

The low overnight temperatures meant that as the team bus left Preston Avenue, the pitch at Pontefract was still frozen, but the gamble paid off as the sun came out and by kick off time, as had been the case the day before, the thaw had set in, and the game could go ahead, although the air temperature never rose above 3 degrees.

 

The cold day brought handling errors from each side, with both teams looking to play open running rugby on a good surface. Park struck first as Ash Smith had pinned the home side back in their 22 with a good touch kick. Brett Sylph then stole the Pontefract ball at the front of the line, and the tapped ball was swept through the Park three quarter line at pace, with Howard Stock finishing off the try in the right hand corner. The conversion dropped short, but with 7 minutes on the clock Park led 5 – 0.

Percy Park 15 – 0 Driffield

Park returned to the top of North One East with a less than emphatic win against Driffield RUFC. West Hartlepool who led the table going into the game, were stymied by the frost at McCracken Park so were unable to play their game against Northern, which allowed Park to move ahead of the Brinkburn side by a point.

Both Park and Driffield were forced to make last minute changes to the sides which were declared in the match program. Joe Wafer failed a fitness test before kick off which meant Chris Reekie moved up to prop. Craig Fidler was unavailable due to work commitments in “Whereisitstan”, so brother Adam came into the back row and Sean Williamson moved into the second row. Driffield’s “dangerous brothers” Lee and Karl Birch, rumour has it, are moving on to pastures new, so did not travel with the team. Lee Birch who is the league’s top try scorer will be a big miss for the Kellythorpe side if he does move as predicted to York RUFC.

 

The overnight thaw, meant that Preston Avenue was fit for rugby, although the surface was a little greasy which didn’t make for a fast free flowing game.The visitors kicked off and Park pressed in the early exchanges but couldn’t break the Driffield defences. Early in the season Park won at Driffield, and their pack were well on top in all phases, today however the scrummage and line out didn’t function as well as usual which starved the Park back line of good possession. In addition, Driff’s scrum half Craig Gray pounced on any loose ball at the back of the Park scrum.

With nearly 90 players pulling on their boots for Park this Saturday, Percy Park celebrated five wins as all teams from the 1^st XV to the Academy won against their respective opponents. There were four games at Preston Avenue, with the 1^st XV beating Old Crossleyans 41 – 12, the Pumas defeated Consett II 33 – 14, the Marauders won 22 – 5 against West End, and the Colts defeated Carlisle 19 – 12. The Lions also despatched Gosforth Phoenix at Druids Park with an emphatic 50 – 0 score line.

Having lost so many games to frost and snow in recent weeks, heavy overnight rain threatened to scupper rugby once again, however the rain abated and in the end all games went ahead, despite heavy conditions under foot.

Old Crossleyans travelled from Halifax with two of their key players missing, influential number 8 Manny Riaz, who was injured in the game against Driffield last week, and player coach Chris Jones was ruled out with flu. Park made a handful of changes in the starting line up from last week with coach James Ponton injured, Greg Dixon moved to number 8 and Sean Williamson came in at blind side. Martin Shaw was available so he came back in at fly half with Ash Smith moving to full back and David Griffiths dropped to the bench.

Old Brodleians 3 – 12 Percy Park

At last, a game of rugby! Park had not played a league game since 20^th November 2010, and even this game  against Old Brods was in doubt, right up to the morning of kick off. Earlier in the season Park had beaten the  Woodhead side at home, but with so many weeks off due to the worst winter for sport many can remember, it was anyone’s guess as to who would perform best on the day.

Park’s preparation took a dent as early as 9.30am when the bus broke down before leaving the clubhouse. Some rallying phone calls saw a convoy of cars leave Preston Avenue an hour or so later than expected. Nevertheless, supporters and players arrived at Brods in good time for the warm up, and a very nice steak pie lunch for the non-combatants.