Winnington Park RFC

The last fixture on 12th October 2019 was a tight game with Rochdale snatching victory in the dying seconds of the game winning 24 to 20. Unfortunately Parks performance since that game has faltered and were desperate to turn the tide.

Park were under pressure within minutes with a scrum 20 metres out with there put in. They won the ball but a mistake at the back of the scrum saw the ball bounce away from the scrum half to see a Rochdale back-row player gather the ball and dive over the line.

The kick was missed.

Shortly after Park were on the scoreboard with a penalty after a Rochdale forward was penalised not rolling away in the tackle.

Rochdale were back on the score sheet with a penalty after a Park player was judged to have been lying on the ball.

The game settled and Park began to play some good attacking rugby. Back row player Gary Dykes broke through with a 20 metre run to pass to his fellow back-row forward Matt Treacy to gain considerable ground. A maul was formed with Park taking the advantage passing the ball with quick hands down the line for Ben Critchley to score in the corner.The conversion was missed.

Park continued to dominate and were awarded a penalty for a high tackle. They kicked for touch won the line out ball drove forward for captain Dave Cross to peel off the back on the blind side to score. The kicked was missed as the wind began to pick up.

Rochdale came back at Park and shortly before half time scoring their second try with a scrum ten metres from the Park line they had a strong drive gathering pace for their number 8 to touch down at the back of the pack.

The kick was missed seeing the score 13 each at half time.

The second half started a little frantic with a Rochdale player being given the yellow card for tackling with a swinging arm shortly followed by a Park player for allegedly tackling with no arms being wrapped.

Rochdale in a similar position before half time were ten metres from the Park line with a scrum drove forward for the no 8 to drive over the line.

The kick was missed as the wind gathered.

Park unfortunately began to make mistakes and the tackling in the backs began to go a miss resulting in Rochdale passing the ball down the line and scoring in the corner. The conversion was kicked.

Rochdale had a further player sent off for another high tackle but this did not phase them and took the game to Park scoring their fifth try in the corner. The kick was missed.

The score ended a disappointing 13 to 30.

Coach Farr said, " This was a disappointing result we have had a bad run but today we had the opportunity to win the game but again poor decision making kicking in the wind rather than keeping the ball in the hand, poor tackling when it counted. The lads have the ability to win games but keep putting themselves under pressure costing us games" We need to focus throughout the full game instead of in patches"