Sat 14 Oct 2023
WPRFC v Liverpool St Helens
14th October 2023 – Ten try win at home
WPRFC 66 – 26 Liverpool St Helens
This week Park welcomed Liverpool St Helens (LSH) to Stade de Burrows Hill for our first encounter with the newly promoted team. Following a tough start to the season, Park really needed to put in a great performance to lift us off the foot of the table. Park welcomed a new face with lock Jarred Lange and also Evan Retief who returned to the fold following a great season last year.
The game kicked off with Park kicking to LSH and immediately gave away a penalty which allowed LSH to clear their lines and launch an attack but after a great touch finder by LSH they made an error and knocked the ball on allowing Park to attack. Park immediately went wide with great hands in the backs, but LSH indiscipline gave Park the penalty and the chance to kick for the corner, the lineout was lost by Park, but LSH fumbled the ball and Mike Gough picked up and powered over in the corner with Benny Elliot adding the extras (7-0). Park were getting over the gain line and exposing LSH and on 9 minutes a break by Chris Twigg got Park into the 22 and he passed to Charlie Hyde who was on his shoulder, and he powered through a couple of defenders to score our second converted try (14-0). The game was beginning to be a bit one sided and on 18 minutes LSH indiscipline gave Charlie Hyde to take a quick tap which got us to the 22 and the forwards took over with great off loading and Tom King ran a great line to score another converted try (21-0). LSH worked to get field position with a penalty but the long levers of Jarred Lange on his debut for the club stole the line out and thwarted an LSH attack. On 24 minutes a bit of solo magic by Benny Elliot saw him take the ball in the 22 from our scrum and run 85 metres to score our bonus point try (28-0). Park were in control of the game and were dominate in most areas of the game but LSH did have some opportunities but the Park defence stayed strong and were forced with a goal line drop out but LSH kicked the ball through but it hit Cameron Flanagan who kicked the ball through and chased and with his footballing skills kicked through twice and beat the defenders to score a great converted try in the corner (35-0). On 30 minutes LSH indiscipline saw their wing yellow carded and Park capitalised on this with a second try from Charlie Hyde from a Jarred Lange run and off load to Tom King and a Tom King offload to Charlie who ran 40 metres to score in the corner (40-0). The final points of the half came off the back of a scrum with the ball being spun out wide quickly to Charlie Hyde who kicked through, and Matt Treacy showed his pace and ran through to pick up the ball and score try number seven which was converted by Benny Elliot (47-0).
Half time score 47 - 0
LSH restarted the second half and within a couple of minutes were caught offside and gave Park the penalty, unfortunately we missed touch, but the chase was good, and Park forced LSH into holding on and Evan Retief took the quick tap and powered over to score a converted try within a couple of minutes (54-0). LSH dug deep and with the help of some Park indiscipline they got field position and used their size up front to attack Park. On 47 minutes LSH worked hard with their pick and go and scored their first converted try of the day (54-7). Park indiscipline with yellow card for a high tackle on 51 minutes for Chris Twigg gave LSH the bit between their teeth and they scored two tries in 5 minutes through their work rate, field position and territory (54-19). Unfortunately, LSH made a mistake in back field as they could not take the kick from Cameron Flanagan and the ball went of play 5 metres out for a great 50:22 and quick thinking by Cameron Flanagan saw him take a quick lineout and Charlie Hyde scored his third try of the day which was converted by Benny Elliot (61-19). Park reloaded and worked hard in attack and try number ten came on 70 minutes when Park forced a scrum 5 metres out from the LSH try line, the scrum was won, and Benny Elliot went quickly to the right side and ran between the defenders and off loaded to Nathan Taylor who scored in the corner with the final Park unconverted try of the day (66-19). The final try of the day came from LSH who scored their bonus point try with a neat move from their back line, but Park missed tackles to allow them the score (66-26).
In summary, it was a bit of a try fest with 14 tries in the game and must be said that Park played with positivity and showed the home crowd what they are capable of. It was definitely a better performance from Park with impressive performances across the team and hopefully the turning point of the season following a tough start. Well done.
Final score WPRFC 66 – 26 Liverpool St Helens
Team: Chris Twigg, Charlie Hyde, Bradley Marshall, James Weeks, Nathan Taylor, Benny Elliot, Cameron Flanagan, Tom King, Mike Gough, Ross Morrin, Jarred Lange, Jake Cornwell, Matt Treacy, Ben Lilley, James Johnson, Evan Retief, Sam Blears and Tom Merrick
