Park Lions 76 – Gosforth Phoenix 7

Pre Match Craic

• Thomas T helping with 1XV
• Strong squad with a good mix of experience and youth
• Big welcome to Tom having his first run out for Park at 7
• Colts:  James, Dylan, Josh H, Josh W, Josh U, Andrew adding considerable pace, skill and commitment to the squad.
• Skipper Jake Smith taking over water boy duties after his unfortunate air bag testing incident.
• Mark Sanderson taking over leadership roles.
• And finally Ross Young once more showing that he can complain from just about any position on the pitch - the versatile youngster starting at 9, deputising at hooker and finishing in the back row.

Park Lions 76 – Gosforth Phoenix 7

Park started with a bang, the restart was well taken deep in the 22, a series of quick “pick and go’s” compressed the Gosforth defence then a sweeping move across the back line resulted in a superb try in the corner.  The game finished on a similar note when Park set of from their own line, created space and sent Kepa off on a 60m sprint to the line.

In between these scores Park did not have everything their own way. Having established a 15 – 0 lead within 15 minutes on the clock (3 tries), Gosforth struck back when their forwards bludgeoned their way over for 7 points. For most of the remaining half Park had ascendency in the lineout, where Aaron continued to dominate and parity in the scrum, but were coming second best in the close contact. However, with young Andrew Walker creating space at 10 for Rikki and Leo to exploit and with real gas on the wings Park always looked dangerous. As half time approached the Park pack decided to show their determination and following a series of close drive breached the Gosforth line (20 – 7). From the kick off Walker split the Gosforth defence for a try well converted by Anderson for a 27-7 Half Time lead.

Sensible words at half time meant a simple 10 minute strategy was deployed in the 2nf half.

Excellent use of the wind by Rikki and Steven saw Park pin Gosforth deep in their 22. As predicted tries followed as Gosforth, unable to kick their way out of trouble, ran out of options and conceded possession.

Percy Park Lions 24 – 43  Middlesbrough Wasps

Once again the Park Lions were left to rue a poor first half and a lack of players.

Pre match craic...

Thomas T in transit to game so unable to start

Dan Ward pops his shoulder in the warm up meaning Park cannot field a front row

Austin running late

18 yr old Ben Cowell comes out of "retirement"

Josh Cheung at the wrong ground but makes it back from Northern in time for kickoff

Numbers boosted by Kyle who we found in the Carpark

Boro sportingly provide a forward.

The Match

A host of unavailabilities, promotions to the 1xv and illness meant Park were scratching around for players pre- kickoff. Boro sportingly provided a player only for Dan Ward to put his shoulder out passing the ball pre warm-up.

TYNEDALE RAIDERS 47 - 14 PERCY PARK LIONS

Pre match Craic

Host of unavailabilities saw the Lions travel with the bare 15
Welcome to new players Ed and Charlie
Park greeted by a Raiders side containing a host of players with National League and County experience.

The game....

With the exception of a 20 minute spell in the 1st half Park matched their opponents; however Tynedale's ability to capitalise on Park mistakes and total dominance of the lineout meant that they ruthlessly exploited any Park mistake...

The game set off at a frantic pace. Park edging the scrums, Tyndale dominating the lineout and the breakdown an even match. Early Park pressure at the tackle forced a number of penalties but subsequent lineouts were lost.

On 20 minutes Tynedale drove a lineout 15 metres in to the Park 22. Fast hands and some perfectly timed off-loads resulted in a try under the posts. With their tails up Tynedale attacked again, their ability to keep the ball alive stretching Park. From a lineout Tynedale drove the ball to within 5m of the Park line but could not find a break in the defence. Indeed despite a prolonged series of drives Park looked comfortable in defence. From one such close in tackle the ball cannoned out of the Tynedale players hands and over the Park line, the 3m gain from the knock on was not spotted and much to the disappointment of the Park team a try was awarded. This score unsettled Park who were on the wrong end of a series of penalty decisions and resultantly shipped a further 19 points in 10 minutes.

HT Tynedale 33- Percy Park 0

CANDY LEAGUE 1

Northern Wanderers 12 - 50 Percy Park Lions

Pre match craic...
8 changes to last week's victorious starting team: lock, back row x2, fly half, both centres, wing and full back meant introductions were again required.
A young squad, 12 under 19s including 5 colts ( Andrew, Steven, Josh, Harry and Travis) bolstered by vets Paul and Wes.
Thomas T was sponsoring the 1xv game meaning management duties fell to Tom G.
On the pitch...
The game started at pace with Park initially struggling to retain possession and Northern struggling to use the possession they had. The Park pack had the better of the early exchanges against a heavy Northern pack in the tight, but struggled to retain possession at the breakdown.

The first 30 minutes resulted in stalemate. Park fluffed a number of scoring opportunities - a forward pass denying Harry on the wing and Ben's toe in touch keeping Northern in the game; however Northern also came close - Aaron's steal at a 5m lineout keeping Northern at bay.

The breakthrough came when Park introduced Colts Harry and Travis to the wings Josh to lock and 18 yr old James P to the centres; young Aaron stole a lineout, quick ball released Harry who rounded the defence and offloaded to fellow Colt Andrew Walker who scampered in for the first try.

A sloppy ruck at the restart saw Park penalised for holding on, Northern kicked to the corner and after some stiff resistance rumbled over 5-7.

Having realised that they had the gas out wide to pose problems Park looked to exploit the space, strong carries by Mark S, Dan W and Wes created space and Harry went from provider to scorer, a well timed break leaving the Northern defence in tatters.

HT 5 -12