Category: 1st XV Reports 18/19
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North 1 East

Cleckheaton 43 – 5 Percy Park

Thoughts of a rare away win were given a dent even before Saturday when no fewer than 5 changes to the side that played so well against Scarborough the previous Saturday were announced. This is no disrespect to the lads who stepped into the breach to travel away to Moorend and represent Percy Park.

With Ash Smith and Ali Blair not available and 3 second rows in Josh Hedley, Austin Phillips and Karl Thompson out of the picture, Park had to call up Eddie Saint, Steven Dryden, Travis Boward and Kieran Sutherland with 2 of the 4 making their 1stXV debuts. Will Haskins also returned to the side but started on the bench.

The game kicked off at 3pm due to the Cleck Christmas lunch and with less than 3 minutes on the clock the home side were on the score sheet from a catch and drive from a line out after Park were penalised and Dale Breakwell kicked to the corner. Cleckheaton had recently signed 2 disaffected West Leeds players in Breakwell and Danny Booth and both have made an immediate  impact of their fortunes.

Fly half Breakwell continued where he left off last week with a fine kicking display and converted the try in the corner to give his side a 7 – 0 lead even before many of the lunch time revellers had made their way to their seats in the stand.

Squally showers and a blustery wind didn’t make handling easy, and for the next 15 minutes Park held out the hosts. Park had a chance to go level in similar fashion to Cleck as they drove a maul 25 metres towards the line before the maul was collapsed and surprisingly the offending player was not shown a yellow card.

Category: 1st XV Reports 18/19
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NORTH 1 EAST

Percy Park 23 – 23 Scarborough

Rock4Olly

After the game, Park skipper Jonny Dubois announced that Park had 2 targets for the day, the first being to maintain the 1stXV 100% league wins home records for the season and the second to raise a decent amount for the Rock4Olly foundation. Park came close to doing both, and it was a 88th minute penalty that denied the win and allowed league leaders Scarborough a draw and 2 points. On the second point ably assisted by Percy Park Under 14’s a collection, raffle, donations and tee-shirt sales raised over £1000 for Rock4Olly.

Park warmed up sporting local rival colours red in support of young Olly Liddle. Olly recently lost his mother to cancer and tragically was then diagnosed with leukaemia himself. Despite losing part of his leg in the resulting treatment the Rockcliff Under 14 player shows great spirit and is fighting the disease with support from all the local rugby community.

Park welcomed back skipper Jonny Dubois from injury, and Ash Smith started at fly-half. An injury last week to Will Haskins ruled him out, which allowed Oli Gilmore to return at scrum half.

A heavy overnight downpour continued, making conditions difficult for handling but both sides contributed to a good display of rugby. It was the visitors who scored first when Park were penalised for a high tackle and fly half Thomas Ratcliffe wearing the number 13 shirt kicked the penalty for a 0-3 lead on 2 minutes. Park had the chance to level the scores but Ash Smith’s penalty attempt hit the post.

Park did go ahead through an Ali Blair try coming off his wing to score in the opposite corner, but the try remained unconverted. Scarborough showed their resilience and why they were league leaders hitting back with a converted try 5 minutes later to go back in front 5-10.

An Ash Smith penalty then another try from Blair restored the home side’s lead and the Ash Smith conversion took Park into the break 15-10 ahead.

Category: 1st XV Reports 18/19
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North One East
 
Bradford and Bingley RFC 31 v Percy Park RFC 18
 
'Away day woes continue for Percy Park'
 
 
Penquins XV away at Bradford
 
With Bradford and Bingley winning 4 games on the bounce, Percy Park were aware that the Wagon Lane Ground was becoming a Yorkshire Fortress for the Bees. Having lost their opening games the Earl of Bradford had sent the call out ‘far and wide’ and many had rallied to the ‘Boar’ banner. With recruits landed the ambitions were there to be seen and the Bradford team did not disappoint. Percy Park knew they would have to dig in and compete at the breakdown for the right to play. Coach Ash Smith had the belief that his team could stay in touch and compete for the victory. What he didn’t want was to come away from the Bingley ground with nothing to show. Unfortunatly that was what Percy Park got and on this performance Bradford should be competing for top spot in North One East this season.
 
A full and spirited bus left Preston Avenue as the Veterans joined the youngsters to make the journey south. Count Carr led the ‘who was better banter’ only to be put in his place by a lofty second row and challenged to see who would end up with the better result on the day. Alas a younger Bradford Vets side managed to replicate the same outcome as their first team by winning 41 points to 19.With honour drawn the two decided to see who was the tallest on the way home. With the Count only reaching just above the second rows ankle that contest was easily won by our First XV player. Yet both sides started their respective games well and were first on the scoresheet with Michael Grove punishing some Bradford indiscipline with two well taken penalties.
 

Category: 1st XV Reports 18/19
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North One East
 
Percy Park RFC 38 v Malton and Norton RUFC 17
 
Deadly Haskins plays the conductor to slay brave Malton
 
 
 
A disciplined and well-constructed performance from Percy Park, combined with a fair bit of glitter, saw off a spirited Malton side to keep the Tyneside team in touch with league leaders Scarborough. If Park can sort out their away form, we could be in with a chance of ‘scrapping’ for one of the top places in North One East this season and that would be a big turnaround in fortunes from our last campaign. At home we are devastating and on Saturday it was scrum half Will Haskins who was the chief orchestrator and architect of breaking the heart of Malton’s Lion rampant. And it was just as well Haskins came on strong as the game progressed. In the first couple of minutes of this contest a real howler from the player almost put Malton in for a score.
 
Malton and Norton arrived at Percy Park fresh from a convincing away victory over Consett. Their confidence was high and as a consequence Park started the game deep in their 22. When we did break out Will Haskins fell over one of his own player’s feet and in doing so threw out something that might have resembled a pass. Christmas came early.  Malton accepted the gift and they were off. It was only a lung bursting effort from Captain Jonny Dubois who was able to chase back and ensure that the ball was held up over the line. Fortunately that was as bad as it got for Haskins for after that mistake he produce a sublime performance that had Malton chasing the game.
 

Category: 1st XV Reports 18/19
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North One East
 
Driffield RFC 49 v Percy Park RFC 21
 
Horrible result…but don’t press the panic button just yet!!
 
Park dominant in the line out
 
 
At the games whistle this result created so much debate and conversation that an elder statesmen had to be given some lubricating resuscitation to prevent a near volcanic explosion….with a Pompeii moment calmed and equilibrium restored all agreed that this was a game, that at the break, Percy Park could have and should have won. And it was within a tragic second period that it all went wrong. A yellow card 10 or 15 minutes into the restart proved calamitous. Yet two opportunities prior to that card could have given Park the game.  A  player stripped of the ball as he dived for the line and a ‘three v one’ pass dropped on the ‘22’ , if taken ,would have given Percy Park momentum. Failure to take those chances proved pivotal as our team appeared to fold and give the day to our opponents. A collapse that had our coaching team and bench exclaiming “What are we doing!” And there is the reason why we shouldn’t be pressing the panic button just yet. For up to that point we were very competitive. As Coach Patton determined “Throughout this game there was flashes of what we are about. We need to be more positive about what we do and inflict our game plan on the opposition and not the other way round. We can and will overcome that” 
 
What were the positives? Debutant Matty Boustead is a real find. Starting the game at full back he has pace and power that will have Park faithful on their feet. Scrum half Will Haskins is a great player. I will not say too much, just come down to Preston Avenue and see for yourself. The centre partnership of Ali Blair and Seb Reece, with more game time together, will be the best in this league. Cameron Coates and Andrew Walker show real promise for the future. Then there is the combative Dan Ward playing at hooker or loose head. Dan is a player that always gets his team on the front foot and the type of player the opposition hate to play against. As Captain Jonny Dubois was keen to illuminate “This season we have real strength in depth. There have been changes from last year. Once we get the team playing together we will be more than alright”.
 
So what went wrong?
 
  1. Park pip Pock
  2. 2 valuable points on the road for Park
  3. Smith demands and gets a try-umphant Park
  4. Park fail to take advantage of Morpeth indiscipline