North One East

Scarborough RUFC 48 v Percy Park RFC 31

Park outdone by a ‘Jordi’

As the tries clocked on for the home side the announcer made constant reference to a scorer hailed by the name of ‘Geordie’. As the faithful stood with ‘head in hands’, that awful thought entered the old brainpan that our beloved had been outdone by one of our own!!....never…it cannot be…I mean what loyal and truehearted Tynesider would deliberately inflict hurt on his own….so at the final whistle, as we dejectedly trooped up the staircase to take our medicine, a thought occurred that we could share a beer or two with our wayward brother and perhaps show him the error of his ways. An approach was made to a Scarborough official to make an introduction….and with great relief I can report that our demise was at the hands of ‘man of the match’ Jordan Wakeham, a Yorkshireman!! And, being a Yorkshireman, I can say with great certainty that he didn’t originate from anywhere near the north side of the Tyne!…..A word was had and an ancestral lesson given…I mean you cannot call someone a ‘Geordie’, even with a ‘J’ if they didn’t hail from where we live, have a mining heritage or first name that looks like ‘George’….and in giving the history lesson we were able to rescue some satisfaction from the day, as we were outscored and outmatched by an ebullient Scarborough side. A display orchestrated at ‘Number 9’ from that man Wakeham…so how did the Yorkshire ‘Jordi’ put Park to the sword?

NORTH 1 EAST

PERCY PARK RFC 27 – 19 CLECKHEATON RUFC

Percy Park welcomed Cleckheaton to Preston Ave for the first home league game of the season hoping to improve on their fortunes of the previous week. Park had been unlucky not to come away from Bradford with a losing bonus point whereas Cleck had started well with a home win against Scarborough. Park welcomed back Toby Davison, Ruairi Meharg, Marc Cook, Andy Dunn and Ethan Wilson to the starting line up and handed a debut to young prop Gus Coningham. Evergreen James Ponton was on the bench for Park along with Mark Barry and Jack Peter.

The home side started well in the bright sunshine and with wind advantage kicked off and retain territorial advantage for the first 7 minutes. Park were awarded a penalty for Cleckheaton pulling down a maul and Ash Smith kicked to the corner to set up a catch and drive. Park drove left and then Ash Smith found wing Ross Young in space on the right and with a cross kick the Park wing took advantage of a cruel bounce that foxed his opposite number retrieving the ball and touching down for the first try of the game. Ash Smith’s kick went across the front of the posts.

Park were soon back on the attack and a loose pass was intercepted by the visitors and play was forced all the way back into the Percy Park half. Park were penalised and both captains were asked to speak to their players. Dale Breakwell took advantage of Park’s slowness in regrouping to defend the penalty and his cross-field kick found wing James Wilson on the left flank to score in the corner to level the points 5-5. Breakwell couldn’t add the extras.

Both sides were guilty of giving away penalties and when Cleckheaton were penalised, Ash Smith turned down the easy 3 points and kicked to the corner. From the line out Park retained possession and spun the ball left playing a free ball as the referee played advantage for another penalty and captain Seb Reece crossed the line to double Park’s lead 10-5 on 20 minutes.