Sat 4 Jan 2020
The 3s’ Mersey and Wirral adventure continued with a trip to Aigburth to face Merseyside Police. A tricky fixture having lost a high scoring encounter at home at the start of the season. Pre-match intelligence on the morning of the game hinted at the opposition bringing in reinforcements from Moore so Park knew they could be up against it.
Losing the toss, meant Park faced the slope in the first half, and right from the off realised that the boys in blue* meant business, (*actually a new shocking lime green kit, I suspect confiscated from some errant football team over the Christmas period!!)
Back to the game, the police hit hard from the off, big runners coming at the heart of the Park defence. In honesty we could have been two tries down in 10 minutes, if it wasn’t for handling errors on the final pass. To compound the pressure, Roger Raynor departed having impaled his leg on what must have been a sunken bayonet in the turf, closely followed by Jase McPhillips to back trouble. The latter reduced us to uncontested scrums which for once was an advantage, against the clearly up for it Police pack pushing down the slope. However we were also down to 14.
The Park defence held firm and slowly we started to exert our own game. Tireless work from the pack, great carrying especially from Roy Dexter and Barry Collins and Park eventually climbed the hill to the opposition 22. Quick ball from a 5 metre scrum and fast hands putting Charlie Dexter in at the corner.
Back hard came the boys in.....green, big forwards knocking on the door to the Park line. Again Park held firm only to be undone by an outrageous cross field kick by their scrum half which sliced it’s way into the winger’s hands on the bounce.
The latter part of the first half was when Park really showed why we are top of the league. Phase after phase of patient structured attack saw us gain another attacking scrum. A great run by Rick Shaw, a few more patient phases creating space for Gareth Lewis to break the “thin blue line” to allow Clinton du Plessis to show his Touch rugby finesse to draw the last man and pass to Dexter jnr who scored again in the corner. A precious 10 - 5 advantage at the break, with the slope to come.
Vice Captain Raynor rejoined the fray for the second half after taking most of the first period getting “patched up” by their attractive physio!
The intensity of the game continued. The police narrowing the deficit with an early penalty. However Park’s backs were starting to look dangerous every time the ball came out wide. Great work lead to Shaw being held up over the line. Off the scrum Collins was held firm then Steve Berg too. From the 3rd set piece a quick switch left through hands to find Lewis crashing through the midfield and score a richly deserved try.
The police came back again, only to knock on 5 yards out. What followed next, could take some beating for try of the season. Good ball from the scrum moved quickly to Lewis on his own line with one intention, run it at the tiring opposition backs. We affectionately and justifiably call him “Bonkers”, but Gaz is still one hell of a player and his sevens skills shone as he danced to the opposition 22, before releasing Dexter jnr. A cheeky chip ahead and a tenacious chase by Kyle Parry to touch down inches from the dead ball line. Park had gone the full length in the blink of an eye to score an outstanding try.
Still time for one more Park try, Park’s backs stretching the tired police defence for Charlie Dexter to complete a superb hat-trick under the posts.
In the dying seconds the Police pack got their reward to touch down a deserved try . Final score 29-15 to Park.
A magnificent performance from the whole team. Once more built on awesome defence and then being able to execute our plans accurately. Especially pleasing as this team was made from a real core of regulars. Team spirit is growing game by game and most importantly we are enjoying our rugby together.
Special mentions to Charlie for the hat-trick, Bonkers for just being exactly that! (and some awesome breaks), Roy and Barry in the pack, but MoM goes to Ed Wilkinson. Only his second game in the back row, but he was everywhere, making tackles and turning over ball on the floor.
DoD - Roger Raynor, taking 35 minutes to get a plaster on a little scratch.
Tony
