Category: 1st XV Reports 19/20
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North One East
 
Bradford and Bingley RFC 25 v Percy Park 14
 
Park battle the United Nations and fall with the last kick.
 
 
 
The first 15 to 20 minutes of this game Percy Park looked as if they were going to be truly ‘humped’. Before the game Bradford Bees Head Coach quipped that he had been able ‘to secure a number of new players to the club’. Crikey he wasn’t kidding. Park took to the field at Wagon Lane confronted by a team from all four ‘rather large corners’ of the globe. It wasn’t until our own Kev Bottomly (former 1stXV scrum half) turned up to spectate that I actually heard a real Yorkshire voice!!...and for those first few minutes it was ‘head in the hands’ time for the Park faithful. Yet we should not have feared as true Tyneside grit, buoyed by a healthy dose of Viking DNA prevailed and nearly, very nearly, won the game. 
 

Category: 1st XV Reports 19/20
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Northumberland Senior County Cup Quarter Final
 
Percy Park RFC 11v Alnwick RFC 33.
 
Park endeavour to no avail
 
 
From the ‘off’ Percy Park were behind due to fleet of foot and a deft shimmy from Alnwick scrum half Peter Moralee. A shimmy which culminated in a try wide to the right and almost on the ‘flag’. Howls of protest emitted from the famous North Stand, as many an indignant and partisan home supporter believed the ‘finisher’ had got away with an audacious double movement. It didn’t matter the try was given and the kick missed. Yet in that moment, less than a minute from the kick off, the 2019-20 season ignited with some uncontrolled passion that dispersed the long summer months and triumphed the return of rugby to the hallowed turf of Preston Avenue. Percy Park endeavoured against a very good Alnwick side and although they did not avail there were plenty of sparks to suggest exciting times ahead. 
 

Category: 1st XV Reports 19/20
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Park edge ‘The Dancers’ in pre-season game
 
Pre-season
 
Percy Park RFC 34 v South Shields Westoe RFC 29
 
 
With the game being split into 3 thirty minute periods, both sides took the opportunity to allow their senior players game time. Percy Park looked particularly youthful with a number of former RGS players making their debuts. All impressing with assured performances. Park were also joined by the returning Andrew Steiners (from Blaydon) and Niall Coombe (from an Australian jaunt).
 
The first period was….tentative… with the Westoe 8 impressing. The first try was scored by Toby Davison chasing down a deft kick through by Josh Hedley. A quick response from our Tyneside cousins owed much too some very poor Park defense in failing to stop the Westoe 8 from crossing the line. Next up was ‘our’ Ross with a neat ‘chip and catch’ over his opposite number. Captain Seb Rees extended the lead with a fine individual effort. The final word of the period went to Westoe with a peel at the back of a ‘ruck’ and a score in between the posts. 17-10.
 

Category: Lions Reports 19/20
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Candy Cup Semi Final

Morpeth Reivers 21 v Percy Park Lions 15

Lions demonstrate real potential on the ‘sheep paddock’!

First an apology…I had promised to get this article in print on Sunday afternoon…I failed miserably due to a raging hangover and a head that felt as if it was coming apart like a badly made helmet…the second apology…. to those players that were present in Lola Jeans, Tynemouth on Saturday night…trust me I am a better dancer than that!!....why the euphoria I hear you ask…well I was in good company but that’s not all as the day started really well… a youthful Lions team travelled to Mitford Road to take on a strong Morpeth second string and performed really well…despite the very difficult conditions and playing on a pitch which is affectionately known throughout Northumberland rugby as the ‘Sheep paddock’ (descriptive but sets the right picture)…our Lions put in a performance that demonstrated great promise, grit and a determination not to be beaten…they even got a little feisty at times…and in the doing gave an exciting glimpse of our future 1st XV. There are many within this team who will grace the hallowed turf in the months and seasons ahead. On a better day and on a better pitch we would have won this game and so I left ‘the Peth’ in good spirits only to take that excitement into the evening and probably one or two steps too far…..but ‘hey ho’ when Park play well everything in the world looks a little bit better…so how did we play?

Category: Lions Reports 19/20
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Percy Park Lions 61 - 0 Middlesborough Wasps

Candy League

The Lions put in their best display of the season on Saturday scoring 8 unanswered tries , 6 conversions and 3 penalties.
To be fair to the opposition they did not have the best preparation with lots of their team arriving just prior to kick off due to Tyne tunnel chaos.
But the Lions started with real intensity. Camping in the opponents 22 , smart skippering by Karl Thompson saw him select the posts three times in the early stages all duly converted by Andrew Walker plus a try  put us 16 0. with 25 minutes gone.

First half tries from Aaron Smith Karl Thompson and Dan Jackson saw us 28 0 up at half time . The 10,12,13 axis of Andrew, Richard Chadwick and Ollie Stephenson was causing all sorts of problems and letting our back three of Jamie Diamond ,Dan Jackson and Ruiri Embelton have a field day picking up 5 tries between themselves.
Great to see Brett Sylph back in black and white and he added a lot to our back row presence. Although the forwards were dominant in the line out and excellent at the breakdown,  we had a bit of a wobble in a couple of scrums but overcame that and a great platform was then provided.

All in all a fantastic team effort, great entertainment for the crowd and many individual performances will make senior selection very interesting this week.
Another tough one next week with Darlington Mowden Park at home. So if you are not travelling to Huddersfield get yourself down to watch .

  1. Lions ‘go a hunting’ on Eden Park
  2. Pumas win Against Gosforth
  3. Lions Maul Morpeth
  4. Controversial end gives Coach Langlands hidrosis