Sat 28 Mar 2026
WPRFC v Vale of Lune (VoL)
28th March 2026 – Park lose at home to second place VoL in close contest
WPRFC 14 – 21 Vale of Lune
This week Park welcomed second placed Vale of Lune (VoL) to Stade de Burrows Hill on a wet March afternoon. This was going to be tough game against a strong VoL side who are looking at a promotion play-off spot this season.
VoL kicked off the game and the hail started straight away from the whistle. VoL had the early possession and territory, but Park stood firm and cleared their lines to push VoL back, but the conditions were poor and the rugby suffered with a few handling errors in the early exchanges. VoL were the first to strike with an easy try on 6 minutes following a defensive lapse by Park on their own 10 metre line which gave VoL an early lead (0-7). With a slight improvement in the conditions, the game was a battle but an error on 11 minutes from Park with a dropped ball VoL capitalised and kicked into the Park 22 forcing Park to take the ball into touch. VoL won the lineout and set up a driving maul and scored from this set driving Park over their line (0-14). The next 15 minutes were again a battle with both sides producing good rugby but neither side crossing the whitewash, Robin Lowndes made a great break on 20 minutes, but Park could not quite capitalise. With the Park scrum working well, Park continued with this option to gain territory and on 26 minutes Park had a scrum just inside the VoL 22 and took in five phases into contact before creating an overlap on the right hand side and Dan Williams took the ball to the line and off loaded in contact to Will Du Randt who scored our first try with Cameron Flanagan adding the conversion (7-14). The remainder of the first half saw both sides working hard in defence and the scores staying the same.
Half time score 7 - 14
Park restarted the second half with only one score in the game, but VoL started strongly and on 43 minutes they extended their lead following a lapse of concentration in our 22 allowing VoL to extend their lead early which was not what Park needed at this stage in the game (7-21). With the weather deteriorating Park had a penalty on 48 minutes from 45 metres but unfortunately this was wide of the posts and the score remained with VoL two scores ahead. Park had a good period of territory in the VoL 22, but we could not get over the white wash with VoL defending well and repelling our attack. On 61 minutes Park used their kicking game from Jack Williams to try and pin VoL into their 22 and with a good chase from Joseph Rowland we forced VoL to clear their lines just outside their 22. Park continued to put pressure on the VoL defence and won a penalty on the VoL 22 for being offside and Jack Williams took the quick tap as VoL were short of numbers on the left-hand side, and passed to captain Dan Williams who passed to Will Du Randt who drew the last defender and passed to Joseph Rowland on the wing who walked in for a well worked try and Cameron Flanagan adding the extras (14-21). This turned out to be the last points of the game, and it was a great contest but unfortunately a loss for Park on the day.
This was a tough day for Park in the conditions, but Park kept themselves in the game throughout the match and showed some great spirit to take a point from a good VoL team.
Final score WPRFC 14 – 21 Vale of Lune
Team: Will Du Randt, Dan Davenport, Riewoldt Teabuge, Lewis Owens, Joseph Rowland, Cameron Flanagan, Jack Williams, Dan Williams (Captain), Matthew Treacy, Robin Lowndes, Phil Lynch, Joseph Hickey, Ross Morrin, Frankie Davenport, Joel Gaidan, Johdell Akua, Lewis Pickering and Bruce McGrogan
