Sat 26 Oct 2024
WPRFC v Bowdon
26th October 2024 – Park in narrow loss at home
WPRFC 17 – 24 Bowdon
This week Park welcomed 2nd place Bowdon to Stade de Burrows Hill on a dry and bright October afternoon. With Bowdon on five wins from six in the league so far this season, it was going to be a very tough and physical encounter. A minutes silence was held at the start of the game in memory of Keith Williams.
Bowdon got the game underway with Park receiving the ball through captain Dan Williams who made ground and Park recycled and exited to the 40-metre line through Cameron Flanagan. Bowdon won the line out and attacked Park, but Park defended well but judged to be offside and gave away a penalty. Again, Park defended the Bowdon attack but indiscipline from Park gave Bowdon another penalty and they kicked into the Park 22. The pressure was definitely on Park in the early exchanges and Park rose to the challenge with a solid defence. More Park indiscipline at the ruck were giving Bowdon possession and territory and on 10 minutes a high tackle in our 22 gave Bowdon the chance for three points which they took (0-3). Park had an opportunity to level the scores two minutes later from a deliberate knock on but unfortunately missed. Park showed what they can do from the 22 drop out with Dan Williams taking the ball in and Joe Hickey and Phil Lynch linking up to make great ground and the ball quickly recycled through Cameron Flanagan to forwards Tom King and Dan Williams on the right edge with Dan Williams kicking though and forcing Bowdon to touch down in goal. On 20 minutes Park got some field position and possession through Bowdon indiscipline and from the penalty Park too the ball in through the forwards and maintained possession through 15 phases of attack until quick ball through the hand on the short side to Chris Twigg to score out first try which was unconverted (5-3). Bowdon restarted with a poor kick out on the full and Park won the scrum and went down the right-hand side with Jacob Halstein who kicked through but Bowdon caught the ball and called the mark. Bowdon kicked which was field by Cameron Flanagan who passed to Chris Twigg who kicked cross field which was taken into contact and then quickly recycled to captain Dan Williams who powered over to score our second try which was unconverted (10-3). Bowdon had a period of possession and attacked but Park again defended well until 30 minutes when Bowdon had a scrum 30 metres out and went wide quickly to the left wing who kicked through the outside centre to run through and score to level up the game (10-10). Park continued to do the hard yards and worked hard to maintain the momentum and on 35 minutes were rewarded again following a Bowdon scrum just outside our 22 when the scrum half under pressure from Jack Williams threw a loose reverse pass which was picked up by Lewis Pickering who kicked down field for Will Du Randt to chase who kicked through and the ball sat up and he picked up to score a great try which was converted by Cameron Flanagan to take the lead (17-10). Bowdon got a penalty on 39 minutes to close the gap and end a great first half performance by the home side (17-13).
Half time score 17 - 13
With the game very much in the balance, the first 20 minutes of the second half was a very cagey affair with both sides having possession and territory but neither being able to score any points. This was definitely going to be a nail-biting game with both sides showing what they can do with ball in hand. In the early exchanges of the second half, it was Bowdon who got the calls with Park being on the wrong side of the referee on a few occasions, but Park continued to play their game and defend everything that Bowdon could throw at them. Park had a couple of opportunities, but a few errors stunted their attack and Bowdon capitalised on these on 60 and 63 minutes with a couple of penalties which gave them the lead (17-19) in the final quarter. This was definitely a game that could go anyway in the second half but Bowdon had field position and possession and on 72 minutes they had us pinned down in our own 22 with a line out on our own 5 metre line, we secured the ball but Bowdon drove us out of the field of play to gain an advantage which got a bit heated at this point. Bowdon secured the line out and set up a maul and drove over to score their second try which was unconverted (17-24). With minutes left on the clock Park again went through the phases with some good close contact work between the forwards but unfortunately a few errors were not allowing us any momentum and we were unable to score any points.
This was a hard-fought game with a much-improved performance from the whole Park squad against a strong and Bowdon team and on reflection we did all the hard work in the first half and could not quite replicate with points in the second half.
Final score WPRFC 17 – 24 Bowdon
Team: Chris Twigg, Jack O’Neill, Lewis Pickering, Will Du Randt, Jacob Halstein, Cameron Flanagan, Jack Williams, Tom King, Freddie Kenyon, Hanre Coetzee, Josh Gledhill, Joe Hickey, Matthew Treacy, Phil Lynch, Dan Williams, Gary Dykes, Anthony Hopley and Richard Hart
