Sat 29 Oct 2022
Vale of Lune v WPRFC
29th October 2022 – Missed opportunities as Park lose away from home
Vale of Lune 40 – 19 WPRFC
This week Park travelled to the Vale of Lune who currently sit just below mid-table in the league and have one of the biggest pitches in the Northwest with a full 20 metre in-goal. The conditions were fine and dry for the game, and a reshuffled Park side following some injuries and unavailability were looking for a second win in the league.
With the game underway, VoL showed their hand early and used their kicking game to try and pin Park into our own 22. The early pressure was from VoL and had good ball retention and scored their first unconverted try on 4 minutes from a ruck on the 22 creating a 2 on 1 (5-0). Park started to gain momentum and field position, but errors stunted our attack from set piece and dropped balls, but Park were making some headway, but VoL were using their kicking game to gain territory. On 14 minutes VoL had a lineout in the Park 22 but Park held up the player in the maul and gained a scrum, unfortunately the scrum was lost and with the scrum turned towards the touch line they scored from the open side with an unconverted try (10-0). A few minutes later Park got some field position and with a scrum on the VoL 22, the forwards worked hard through 5 phases and then a cross field kick from Benny Elliot the VoL winger tried to keep the ball in play but knocked it over the try line and Jack Williams seized the opportunity to score a converted try (10-7). This closed the gap but indiscipline on our 22 gave VoL the opportunity to kick 3 points to extend their lead (13-7).
Park worked hard in attack and made some good ground but handling errors again stunted our attacking opportunities, but a break by wing Will Morrillo gave us some territory and Park made ground on each phase to get within a few metres and Dave Cross drove over the line and turned over to dot the ball down but was judged a double movement. On 35 minutes VoL extended their lead with a converted try with a breakthrough the middle to offload to the winger to score (20-7). They further extended their lead just before the break from a penalty which rounded off the first half.
Half time score 23 - 7
The second half started with a VoL mistake from the kick off giving Park a scrum in the VoL 22 and Jack Williams took the ball into contact and the forwards took it to the VoL with some hard yards which paid off with Shaun Underdown busting over the line to score an unconverted try within 2 minutes (23-12). The game was definitely in the balance, but Park had the opportunities, but small errors were costing us possession and field position. On 13 minutes Park kicked for territory and held up VoL to gain the scrum but a great run by Alex Burrage in the centre was judged to be held up over the line. Parked appeared to be in the ascendancy at times but again indiscipline at the breakdown gave away field position and made the job a lot harder. On 24 minutes VoL again extended their lead with a converted try (30-12). Indiscipline from VoL saw the Referee show the yellow card so Park had a chance to take advantage of the extra man and with Park camped in the VoL 22 some strong forward runs from Park gave us the platform and Tom King powered over for a converted try on 33 minutes (30-19). Unfortunately, we could not find the elusive fourth try to get a bonus point and VoL scored two more unconverted tries on 35 and 38 minutes to take the game away (40-19).
It was again an improved performance by Park in parts in the second half but errors, penalty count and decision-making cost us the game.
Final score Vale of Lune 40 – 19 WPRFC
Team: Chris Twigg, Jack Williams, Alex Burrage, James Wood, Will Morrillo, Benny Elliot, Cameron Flanagan, Jack England, Michael Grant, Gary Dykes, Dave Cross, Matt Treacy, Shaun Underdown (Captain), Justin Oles, Tom King, Ross Morrin, Josh Allen and Lewis Gibson
