Sat 14 Jan 2023
WPRFC v Rochdale
14th January 2023 – Park narrowly misses out at home
WPRFC 13 – 15 Rochdale
This week Park welcomed second place Rochdale to Stade de Burrows Hill for the return fixture and were keen to overturn the heavy defeat inflicted back in October. We knew this was going to be a tough game as Rochdale have had quite an impressive season so far. With the rain stopping for the game, we were all set for a tough encounter.
From the whistle Park started with great intention with a great run by Shaun Underdown with support from Tom King, unfortunately a knock on gave the possession to Rochdale who chipped over forcing Park to clear their lines. Rochdale kept up the momentum and were awarded a penalty right in front of the posts on the 22 which they elected to kick for goal, fortunately the strike from Rochdale was poor and penalty was missed. From the 22 drop out, Rochdale attacked but were judged to be crossing and Park kicked for touch to give us some field position. Park won the line out cleanly by Matt Treacy and attached through the forwards towards the try line, but Rochdale defended their line and were awarded a penalty at the ruck and cleared their lines. Park worked hard to regain the ball and launched a couple of attacks to get them into the Rochdale 22 and indiscipline from Rochdale coming in at the side of the ruck, gave Park the chance to open up the scoreboard through the boot of Benny Elliot (3-0) on 9 minutes.
Park worked hard in both attack and defence to disrupt Rochdale and starve them of possession and the game was certainly in the balance, but we were edging the game with good phase play., unfortunately a few errors stunted our attack. A forward pass by Rochdale just outside their 22 gave Park an opportunity but the chip through went dead. Park regrouped and through some strong running by Dan Williams and Ben Cann we got some field position, from 5 metres out Benny Elliot threw a great missed pass out wide to Dan Williams who fixed the defender and a sweet pass to Chris Twigg to score the first try of the game with Benny Elliot adding the conversion (10-0). Park was in the driving seat now, but it was a bruising encounter with both sides defended well against an onslaught of attack. Park further added to their score with a penalty on 32 minutes by the boot of Benny Elliot to extend their lead (13-0) following Rochdale being offside. The final score of the half went to Rochdale who scored and unconverted try in the corner with a neat offload (13-5).
Half time score 13 - 5
From the start of the second half both sides picked up where they left off, but a few Park errors gave Rochdale the edge in the initial few phases, but Park responded well with good counter rucking and earning a penalty to gain territory. On 50 minutes Rochdale were reduced to 14 with a yellow card after some back chat to the Referee. On 53 minutes a knock on by Park just inside the Rochdale half gave them an opportunity which they took with a well worked unconverted try to close the gap (13-10). Rochdale were now putting Park under pressure and seemed to be in the ascendency with field position and possession, but Park held firm and defended well although indiscipline gave Rochdale too many opportunities, fortunately Rochdale could not convert by the boot on 65 minutes.
Park was again under pressure and a mistake in defence gave Rochdale another chance to attack from the 22 but Park stayed strong, and Rochdale were held up over the line. With a goal line drop out this gave Rochdale possession again and they continued to pin Park in our own 22. Park dug deep with strong carries and a great clearance kick relieved the pressure but that was short lived as Rochdale continued to pressurise the Park defence and resulted in a penalty at the ruck. Rochdale kicked for territory and secured the lineout and continued to challenge the Park defence but an error on their part halted their attack on this occasion, but their persistence paid off and on 79 minutes they scored an unconverted try to win the game (13-15) following multiple phases in the Park 22.
A gutsy performance by all 18 players in a bruising encounter and shows the improvement in the squad over the last few months as we are now competing with the top half of the table.
Final score WPRFC 13 – 15 Rochdale
Team: Chris Twigg, Alex Burrage, Tom Merrick, Will Morrillo, Charlie Hyde, Benny Elliot, Cameron Flanagan, Tom King, Justin Oles, Shaun Underdown, Ben Cann, Matt Treacy, Gary Dykes, Jack England, Dan Williams, James Johnson, Evan Boucher and Dave Cross
