Sat 24 Sep 2022
Glossop v WPRFC
24th September 2022 – Park suffers a narrow loss away from home
Glossop 36 – 25 WPRFC
This week Park was away at Glossop and saw the debut for Justin Oles who joined us last week for his first game in England and put in a very solid performance as hooker and will be a great addition to the squad for this season. The conditions were fine and dry, but the pitch was very small which suited the home side. The first half started with Glossop having a penalty for Park sealing off at the ruck and they kicked for the corner and scored a converted try from an initial driving maul within 2 minutes (7-0). Glossop were in again within 6 minutes with a converted try following some poor Park defence and extending their lead (14-0). Park switched on from the restart and a strong run from Will Morrillo took Park within a couple of metres of the Glossop line and then Shaun Underdown taking another strong drive close to the line but a penalty at the ruck saw Park take the scrum and with great hands from the backs saw the ball passed from one side to the other to allowed Charlie Hyde to power over in the corner and Benny Elliot adding the conversion (14-7). Park looked threatening and Benny Elliot kicked a great 50:22 to earn territory but the attack from the lineout did not quite go to hand on the last pass although the referee was playing advantage for a Glossop infringement at the maul. Park won the scrum and again great hands in the back line put Alex Burrage through to score an unconverted try (14-12).
Both teams had some great territory and possession for the for the next 15 minutes but both teams worked hard in defence and didn’t concede any points with our forwards taking in some hard yards and defending hard and putting in a great shift. Unfortunately, Glossop extended their lead on 31 minutes with a Park missed tackle in the Glossop half which allowed them to score an unconverted try in the corner (19-12).
Half time score 19 - 12
The second half was played at a similar pace with both sides attacking hard, but the first points of the half was from the boot of Benny Elliot on 46 minutes from a penalty in front of the posts (19-15). This was cancelled out two minutes later from Glossop for a Park infringement at the ruck (22-15). Park was looking the more threatening side but were let down with some errors. On 57 minutes Park struck again from a lineout following a penalty with the forwards creating a great platform for the backs to attack the Glossop line which Charlie Hyde scored in the corner but was unconverted (22-20).
On 62 minutes Park went ahead for the first time in the game with a sublime try from Benny Elliot who stepped through three defenders to score an unconverted try (22-25) following a great platform set up by the forwards. The lead was short lived as Glossop struck back 4 minutes later with a converted try (29-25). Glossop sealed the win with a couple of minutes to go with another converted try (36-25). It was a tough physical day for Park, but we could not quite turn this into a win although we did acquit ourselves well in certain parts of the game. We should take positives from the game with some notable performances from Park across the team but need to work on our defence to stop these tries against us.
Final score Glossop 36 – 25 WPRFC
Team: Chris Twigg, Charlie Hyde, James Wood, Will Morrillo, Alex Burrage, Benny Elliot, Cameron Flanagan, Ross Morrin, Justin Oles, Shaun Underdown (Captain), Dave Cross, Jake Cornwell, Gary Dykes, James Johnson, Jack England, Ben Thorn, Bruce McGrogan and Gregor Purves
