Sat 30 Apr 2022
Rochdale v WPRFC
30th April – Park come up short against second place Rochdale
Rochdale 31 – 17 WPRFC
This week Park travelled to second place Rochdale for the rearranged fixture cancelled in early February. Park needed two points to secure a fourth-place finish in the league with Rochdale having already secured second place in the league and could not overturn Anselmians. This was always going to be a hard game and with a couple of players missing, Park needed to work hard to secure points away.
From the whistle, Rochdale showed their intention with pressure from the kick-off and pinning Park into their own 22. Park had work hard in defence but a few penalties at the ruck kept us in our own 22. With our scrum under pressure, Rochdale elected for a scrum from a penalty and with quick hands scored a converted try in the corner (7-0).
With the penalty count against us, Rochdale kept the pressure on and continued to keep us in our own half. On 12 minutes, another penalty at the scrum against us and Rochdale again elected for a scrum which Rochdale drove through Park and were awarded a penalty try and a yellow card for Park (14-0).
The pressure continued for Park but we worked hard in defence to nullify the Rochdale attach and exited our 22 with some great touch finders. The game was now a game of attrition but errors on both sides made the game a bit stop start for the middle period of the first half.
On 25 minutes Park finally had some field position following a quick tap by Alex Glendinning and then being tackled in an off-side position, Cam Flanagan kicked for the corner giving us some field position. The lineout was won by Park and Rochdale again gave away another penalty and James Johnson took a quick tap to score our first unconverted try (14-5). On 30 minutes, Rochdale capitalised with penalty advantage, quick hands and an overlap to score an unconverted try (19-5).
Half time score 19 - 5
Park started the second half with a great run by Alex Glendinning which gave us some field position, but Rochdale defended well and turned defence into attack but a forward pass in our 22 thwarted their efforts. The pressure was still on Park as Rochdale continued to play in our half of the field and did not allow park to get any phases of play.
On 55 minutes, Rochdale extended their lead with a converted try (26-5) which put Park in an up-hill struggle to overturn this deficit. After another strong performance by Alex Glendinning an injury meant he had to leave the field, this was shortly followed by a second yellow for the Rochdale outside centre. On 65 minutes, Park got some well-earned field position and with some great hands Chris Twigg dived over in the corner to score a well needed unconverted try (26-10). Unfortunately, a yellow card for Park levelled up the numbers and Rochdale extended their lead on 72 minutes with an unconverted try in the corner (31-10).
Park continued to work hard in both defence and attack and with a bit of field position captain Shaun Underdown had the last points of the game with a storming run through four defenders scoring a great converted try (he was not going to be stopped from 15 yards out!) (31-17).
Final score Rochdale 31 – 17 WPRFC
Team: Chris Twigg, Ashley Harding, James Johnson, Jack Johnson, Lee Allmark, Will Morrillo, Cameron Flanagan, Mike Eaves, Tom Wager, Shaun Underdown (Captain), Dave Cross, Joe Cook, Matt Treacy, Gary Dykes, Alex Glendinning, Josh Allen, Cameron Herron
