Sat 3 Sep 2022
WPRFC v Altrincham Kersal
3rd September 2022 – Park start new league off with a win
WPRFC 30 – 24 Altrincham Kersal
The new season has arrived, and Park welcomed Altrincham Kersal to Stade de Burrows Hill in the Regional 2 North West League following our promotion at the end of last season under the new RFU structure. Park welcomed some new and old faces into the fold with new player/coach Benny Elliot, Dan Williams, Jack Williams (injured), Tom Merrick, James Wood and debut for 18-year-old Bruce McGrogan under the ever-present captain Shaun Underdown.
The first half was a cagey encounter with both teams having a reasonable amount of ball but also a high penalty count. Park scored the first points from the boot of Benny Elliot with a penalty (3-0). AK struck a few minutes later with a converted try from a scrum in the Park 22 (3-7). Although Park made use of their territory, we could not seem to break the AK defence and with our scrum under pressure we could not set up any platform to play off.
Park could not get a foothold in the game, but AK’s discipline was punished by Benny Elliot with two penalties which put us in front on the scoreboard (9-7). Park started to apply some pressure and with our scrum starting to work, we capitalised from a scrum with a converted try from Benny Elliot (16-7). AK continued to push Park but were not making much impact until they managed to get some field position and scored a converted try from a penalty in the Park 22 (16-14).
Half time score 16 - 14
The second half started with a few handling errors from Park and following a couple of enforced changes with both Ben Critchley and Tom Merrick having to leave the field through injury AK put themselves in front from the boot from a penalty (16-17).
Park showed some glimpses of what we are capable of but could not seem to convert to points until Benny Elliot chipped the ball over the AK defence from our 22 and like centre forward controlled the ball with his feet all the way to the line to score a fantastic try to put Park ahead (23-17). Park was in the ascendancy and displayed a lot more ability but still not converting this to points on the board until a superb read from Benny Elliot saw him intercept a long pass in the AK back line to score a fantastic converted try (30-17) to put some light between us on the scoreboard.
Unfortunately, AK had the last points of the game with a converted try near the end to give a losing bonus point which may prove useful at the end of the season.
They say that bad news comes in threes but for Park this was definitely not the case with triple threat Benny Elliot scoring all of Parks points with three tries, three conversions and three penalties! It was a fantastic team effort with all players working hard to win this game and create some great rugby for the home crowd.
Final score WPRFC 30 – 24 Altrincham Kersal
Team: Alex Burrage, Tom Merrick, Charlie Hyde, Will Morrillo, Ben Critchley, Benny Elliot, James Johnson, Bruce McGrogan, Jake Cornwell, Shaun Underdown (Captain), Benn Cann, Matt Treacy, Gary Dykes, Jack England, Dan Williams, Andrew Evans, James Wood and Joe Cook
