Sat 5 Oct 2019
Winnington Park 3s 31-12 Moore 2s
In a confusing start to the week where we didn’t know if we were going to have 9 players or 30 players a strong team was available and a team was assembled less than an hour before kick-off. It was particularly rare occasion where there was strength in depth in the backs and front row.
Despite the confusing start in trying to organise (not the captains strong point) the team, Park started strong dominating possession for the first 20 minutes punching it up with good teamwork interplay between backs and forwards. Unfortunately, this spell of dominance didn’t yield any points with Moore defending strongly and looking dangerous on the break.
The deadlock was broken eventually with straight up running by the forwards making ground and number 8 Jim Fowles crashed (for a change) over for a try. This was after Jim expressed desire for gender reassignment by moving from the back into the forwards.
Moore still looked dangerous off the break and a kick and chase was well defended by Aiden who secured the ball near the try line who was then high tackled of the line. In the worst display of sportsmanship I have ever seen Aidan managed to talk the ref out of giving a penalty in our favour for a Moore scrum which they scored after a quick 8 pick up. This really is proof that all talking to the ref should be done through the captain.
Park then showed resolve in fighting back by retaining possession and slowly fighting back up the pitch and strong run by inside centre Gareth Lewis powered himself over the line to score parks second. The bench proved valuable as Park showed signs of tiring and brought some fresh legs on and Jim showed his diversity by scoring from a crash ball. Jim then realised he was in danger of buying a jug and asked to be substituted to avoid the expense.
Moore started strong in the second half with a change of tactic in trying to keep the ball moving as they realised they were losing the battle in the ruck area and they scored a couple of breakaway tries in the second. In general though Park were strong in the set pieces, for the first time in many years the line out could be used as an offensive weapon with both Dave and Peter Neary consistently stealing and retaining possession and this was displayed in continued pressure by the forwards which finished which Bear droved over from the back of a ruck to finish. The last try of the match came from similar pressure with Macca going over the line but couldn’t ground and Jim nearly got carried away to score his third before he realised it would cost him and he step back and run to the wing out of the way. The move was capped off by a big floating pass from outside prop Hilly to Bear who thought of passing to Jim Lomu but realised he was too tight to score so he powered over for his second.
Honourable mentions for Rick who carried strongly TJ for his offensive and defensive efforts. Ben Coyler looking solid at full back, Roger for his shenanigans and Tom Robb who threw straight in the lineout for the first time.
Most of the team left by the time the fines were issued but Jim got MOM mainly because he should have had a dirty pint for jug avoidance and Matt Smethurst had a tenuous DOD because he was on for 5 minutes and went straight into the only puddle on the pitch to make sure he looked as dirty as Jase’s mind.
