Sat 9 Dec 2023
Firwood Waterloo v WPRFC
9th December 2023 – Depleted Park suffer heavy loss away from home
Firwood Waterloo 48 – 10 WPRFC
This week Park travelled to Firwood Waterloo on a very windy afternoon for our first encounter with them this season.
The first half started with Firwood Waterloo (FW) making the first attack, but the weather conditions were tough with gusty winds and the first of many handling errors by FW thwarted their attack, but they won a penalty in our 22 for holding on and scored the first points of the game (3-0). A mistake by Park on the restart gave FW a scrum on the half way line and FW put the pressure on Park and attacked but they took the wrong option and the kick through went to the hand of Benny Elliot who cleared our lines, but FW launched an attack from their 22 and created a simple two on one and scored their first unconverted try on 6 minutes (8-0). Park regathered and launched their own attack and cross field kick by Benny Elliot was taken by James Weeks who was tackled but popped the ball to Cameron Flanagan who made some good yards and off loaded to supporting runner Tom King who was tackled and, but FW were straight on to the ball and won the penalty. The errors were creeping into our game, and we were struggling to set up any phases and FW continued to play running rugby and on 18 minutes they scored their second try from close range (15-0).
On 30 minutes Park were awarded a penalty and kicked for the corner, the lineout was won cleanly, and Park set up a driving maul and powered over the line with Evan Retief scoring our first try of the game (15-5). By this early stage of the game, we had already used up our bench due to injuries and the conditions were not helping and the game was scrappy in places, but FW took their opportunities and scored their third try on 34 minutes to extend their lead (20-5).
Half time score 20 - 5
With the second half underway the conditions were worsening with gusty winds and Park really needed to dig deep if we were going to get anything out of this game. Park did put some good phases of play together in the early exchanges and worked hard to gain some territory put again a few mistakes let FW capitalise and on 48 minutes they scored their fourth try from a loose ball after Park turned the ball over (27-5). Two minutes later they were in again with an overlap on the left-hand side and stepped through to score a converted try (34-5). On 68 minutes Park scored a very similar try to the first half from the lineout which was cleanly won, and the driving maul was again successful with Frankie Davenport scoring an unconverted try (34-10). This was a tough game and unfortunately a few more injuries put us down to 13 players and FW capitalised on this by scoring a couple more tries on 75 minutes and 79 minutes to add to their tally. It was a very tough and frustrating day in difficult conditions against a solid team with injuries playing a part in a disjointed game for Park.
Final score Firwood Waterloo 48 – 10 WPRFC
Team: Chris Twigg, James Weeks, Cameron Flanagan, Dan Williams, Nathan Taylor, Benny Elliot, Harley Aston, Ben Lilley, Matt Treacy, Gary Dykes, Joe Hickey, Jarred Lange, Mike Eaves, Frankie Davenport, Tom King, Evan Retief, James Johnson and Dan Davenport
