Sat 6 Dec 2025
VoL v WPRFC
6th December 2025 – Park lose away from home
Vale of Lune 38 – 0 WPRFC
This week Park travelled to fourth placed Vale of Lune (VoL) on a wet December afternoon. This was going to be tough game away at a strong VoL side who have had a similar number of wins so far this season. We were missing a couple of players but welcomed back Tom King from injury and a first team debut for young Harry Sheard.
Park started the game and got the ball following VoL failing to control the ball with their foot and Park attacked VoL but a knock on in the midfield gave VoL a scrum just inside their half. Vol were awarded a penalty and VoL kicked for the corner, but Rafael Van Osselaer caught the ball and passed to Will Du Randt to clear our lines. The ball did not go to touch and the VoL centre chipped through into our 22 and Jack Williams collected and stepped the first tackler and cleared to touch. VoL got a penalty after the lineout from the driving maul and Eli Fakailoatonga was shown a yellow card, VoL opted for the scrum 5 metres out and scored on 6 minutes from the base of the scrum (5-0). VoL used their kicking game and their large in goal area to keep us pinned in our own half and kept turning us around with their kicks. VoL were in form and with their set piece working really well they scored again on 14 minutes following a lineout just outside our 22 and their centre stepped inside our defence to score (12-0). On 20 minutes VoL scored their third try following a lineout on our 22 and after four phases their fly half chipped through for their centre to chase and kick through into the in goal and score (17-0). Park worked hard to get possession but were met by strong defence and we struggled to get out of our own half. The next 15 minutes was a game of attrition with neither side scoring any points, but Park were stuck in our own half and not able to exert any pressure on the opposition. We did have an opportunity on 30 minutes following a scrum just inside our half when Joel Gaidan passed out to Eli Fakailoatonga who passed to Riewoldt Teabuge and broke down the wing and chipped through but the VoL defence did well to cover the kick and they recycled the ball and out to the 22 and cleared the ball and forced us to take the ball into touch in our 22. VoL kept the pressure on, and this took a toll as we were defending for large parts of the first half, and they finished the half with their bonus point try just before half time (24-0).
Half time score 24 - 0
VoL started the second half and Park had a real mountain to climb if we were going to get anything out of this game. Park had some early possession but this was again in our own half and we struggled to break the gain line as the VoL defence shut us down and as the rain worsened it became more difficult to play an expansive flowing game of rugby and our error count was taking its toll on the game with a number of knock ons in contact. On 50 minutes VoL were in again following being held up over the line and then resetting after the goal line drop out and following 5 phases of attack Park turned over the ball and tried to clear our lines but the kick was field by VoL and they ran in try number five (31-0). The next 15 minutes was an arm wrestle and Park worked hard in all facets of the game to try and get something from this tough encounter, but it was difficult in the conditions, and we were struggling with our error count. On the other hand, VoL were just keeping us pinned in our own half and then defending really well and did not miss many tackles all afternoon. The final points of the game went to VoL on 68 minutes following a scrum on our 10 metre line and they went wide off first ball and kicked through on phase 2, Park cleaned up the ball and kicked to clear our lines but the ball went straight to the VoL hands and they recycled quickly with the scrum half kicking through into the in goal area and the winger beating our defence to the ball and scoring their sixth try (38-0).
This was a very hard day for Park in the conditions, but a better second half performance will give us some encouragement as we go into the second half of the season with 7 wins out of 11 so far.
Final score Vale of Lune 38 – 0 WPRFC
Team: Will Du Randt, Riewoldt Teabuge, Joseph Rowland, Lewis Owens, Rafael Van Osselaer, Jack Williams, Alex De Keyzer, Dan Williams (Captain), Matthew Treacy, Robin Lowndes, Phil Lynch, Johdell Akua, Conor Lapniewski, Eli Fakailoatonga, Joel Gaidan, Frankie Davenport, Tom King and Harry Sheard
