Sat 18 Jan 2025
WPRFC v Eccles
18th January 2025 – Bonus point win at home for Park
WPRFC 27 – 15 Eccles
This week Park welcomed Eccles to Stade de Burrows Hill for the return fixture following a 29-34 win away in October. With two new recruits in the line (Joel Gaidan and Genesis Luli) Park were gunning for a win to kick start the remainder of the season.
Eccles got the game underway and new recruit Joel Gaidan was the first to pick up a poor kick off and immediately off loaded to Tom King to take the ball into contact. We really needed our forwards to take on Eccles and they responded with strong carries and showed our strength in attack and defence. In the early exchanges both sides made errors, but Park showed their strength in the scrums and won the first scrum against the head. Park were making ground with strong carries, but Eccles were not rolling over and competed at the breakdown and won some early penalties. On 11 minutes, Park won a penalty in the Eccles 22 and kicked for the corner, the lineout was won cleanly and we set up and driving maul and powered over the line with Tom King scoring the first try and Cameron Flanagan adding the conversion (7-0). Eccles had a period of pressure and unfortunately an injury to Chris Twigg forced an early change with Charlie Dexter coming on. Eccles had a penalty in the Park 22 and took the tap and a defensive error let them score on 17 minutes (7-5). A few minutes later, Eccles were trying to run the ball out of their 22 but a loose carry in contact gave Park an opportunity and the ball was quickly passed out to Charlie Dexter on the wing who was tackled illegally but Park played on and Richard Hart picked up and passed to Ross Morrin who ran a great line and powered through the Eccles defence to score our second try (12-5). The remainder of the half was an arm wrestle with both sides having possession and territory, but no further points were scored in the first half, but Park defended their line and stopped Eccles from gaining any momentum. This was definitely a strong Park first half performance and just before half time Eccles had a scrum in their own 22 and Park won the scrum and Richard Hart picked up the ball and went for the line but was tackled short, the ball was recycled and captain Dan Williams picked up and powered over to score but unfortunately the referee did not see the grounding and the try was disallowed.
Half time score 12 - 5
Park got the second half underway and won the ball and attacked Eccles with strong carries into the Eccles 22 but lost the ball in contact and the full back from Eccles picked up and ran through the Park defence and scored a try on 42 minutes (12-10). This was an early blow to Park and they had to put it behind them as an error and concentrate on winning this game. On 46 minutes Park were on the attack with Hanre Coetzee making good ground with a strong run and indiscipline by Eccles slowing the ball down on the wrong side of the ruck and getting a yellow card, gave Park an opportunity and Cameron Flanagan kicked the penalty to extend the lead (15-10). Park were in the driving seat at this stage and continued to batter the Eccles defence with phase after phase and finally on 55 minutes Park were awarded a penalty and opted for the scrum and drove the Eccles scrum backwards and the ball was passed out to Will Du Randt on the wing to dive over and score in the corner (20-10). Park were looking the stronger side but a few small errors were stunting our opportunities but with a solid set piece we really needed to close this game out and could not let Eccles have any space to work with. On 60 minutes, Eccles had a break into the Park 22 but a forward pass stopped them from scoring. Park continued to play their game and got into a rhythm and with each phase they worked their way into the Eccles 22 and with only a few metres to go, debutant Joel Gaidan picked up and powered over the line to score a bonus point fourth try in his first game for the club with Cameron Flanagan adding the conversion (27-10). Eccles did not give up and with only 3 minutes left on the clock they had Park in their 22 and scored their third try (27-15).
This was a well-earned win for Park with a great team performance and will set us up for the rearranged home game next week against Douglas which was cancelled in December.
Final score WPRFC 27 – 15 Eccles
Team: Roan Cornwell, Chris Twigg, Jack Williams, Will Du Randt, Charlie Dexter, Cameron Flanagan, Richard Hart, Dan Williams, Matthew Treacy, Phil Lynch, Gary Dykes, Joe Hickey, Hanre Coetzee, Tom King, Ross Morrin, Anthony Hopley, Genesis Luli and Joel Gaidan
