NORTH 1 EAST

PERCY PARK 34 – 11 MORPETH

Percy Park RFC were made to work hard for their second successive home victory at Preston Avenue as Northumberland County Cup champions Morpeth RFC gave them a thorough work-out.

Percy Park lead 22-6 at the midway stage, and looked like they would run away with it in the second half, but to Morpeth’s credit, they fought back and didn’t let Park have it all their own way.

Park’s first try came on the 3rd minute when Marc Cook used his large frame to good effect to drive in from one metre out after a quick tap from a penalty came up just short.

Then after some good phase rugby which saw both the backs and forwards linking up well, Ethan Wilson spotted a gap in the defence and ran in under the posts to make it 14-0 inside the first 10 minutes.

NORTH 1 EAST

PERCY PARK 44 – 20 DURHAM CITY

After an opening day defeat at Penrith RFC, Percy Park were looking to bounce back straight away at home against recently promoted Durham City. City had picked up a couple of points from their first game of the season drawing 17 all with another recently promoted team Bradford and Bingley.

Park made three changes to the team that travelled to Penrith, in the forwards Ethan Wilson came in for the departing Joey Clarke who impressed in pre-season but is unfortunately off to university, while in the backs Park welcomed back John Scott at scrum half who missed last week’s trip due to losing a front tooth, Alex Tilley moved up from full back to inside centre to replace Sam Jobson and Lome Faatau made his first start of the season at full back.

On a perfect day for rugby it was Park who kicked off with no wind to speak of. Two quick penalty’s took City from their own 22 into the home sides half, after several phases another penalty allowed City to take their first shot at goal which they converted to take them into a early 0-3 lead.

On a glorious spring afternoon, The Lions travelled to Ponteland to face Morpeth in the No.2 cup final. Having defeated their opponents on two occasions already, Park were in confident mood.
Ward Ross Kidd Ssssshnairn Saint Aaron Jake Reekie Gilmore Hasnip Kyle Jobson Greswold Sim Gould the finishers Sanderson Hennessey Ponton Ben James Beans. 
For regular readers of my match reports, a quick look at the above team shows that yet again there were a few changes due to unavailabilities, injuries, promotions to 1stxv and a scheduled colts game. However a late cancellation of that game resulted in Park being able to select a few of their colts. Yet again, without them we would've been short in number even for The game of the season! However the side was a good reflection of the lads who have represented the side in a tough but rewarding season.

NORTHUMBERLAND SENIOR SHIELD

PERCY PARK LIONS 68 - 29 SEGHILL

It's been a busy old week for the Lions. On Wednesday night, Park welcomed Seghill in a No2 cup semi final and then on Saturday, Billingham Lions provided the opposition in a Candy Plate semi-final.

In both fixtures, Park assembled a senior side i.e. no colts, with our outstanding youngsters focusing on their own cup game at Berwick.

In the Seghill game, Park started at a fast pace, hoping to run the enthusiasm out of the visitors. However, Seghill had other ideas, the first 40 minutes were very keenly contested with only a score separating the two sides. Park then blitzed their opponents at the beginning of the second half, eventually winning 68-29. It was a very entertaining game and despite the score-line a close contest. Park now play Morpeth in final at Ponteland on 25^th March KO 2pm.