SHEFFIELD 19 – 10 PERCY PARK
Park’s patchy form on the road re-surfaced as they went down 19 – 10 to Sheffield at Abbeydale, starting with the same line up that ground out a solid win at home to Malton & Norton.
The home side opened the scoring with a Donal Collins penalty after only 2 minutes which was cancelled out by a Simon Greetham penalty 4 minutes later. Greetham could have put Park in the lead soon after but his long range effort was pulled left of the uprights.
The visitors had several chances to cross the Sheffield try line, but for last ditch tackling by the Yorkshiremen. Ali Blair cut through several defenders and with the line beckoning was tap tackled from behind and stopped metres short, as was Michael Langlands a few minutes later.
Just before the half time break Collins kicked his side in front for a 6 -3 lead.
In the second half Simon Greetham had the chance to level the scores from long range but his kick went wide. Neither side had the upper hand in the game although the Park back line looked the more likely to score from open play. When Park were penalised for coming into the ruck from the side, some back chat cost a further 10 metres and Donal Collins made no mistake with his penalty kick to go 9-3 up.
Percy Park reshuffled the back line with Ash Smith moving from fullback to fly half, Kai Downey-Stephenson came into the centre and Dave Griffiths went to full back. Park were awarded a penalty on the Sheffield 5 metre line, and what followed could only be described as surreal. Despite calls from the coaches to opt for the scrum, and area in which Park were well in control, Dave Griffiths stepped up to kick to the corner. His lethargic punt into touch, five metre out and the same distance from the touch line was kicked straight into the hands of an advancing Sheffield player who had not retreated behind the goal line. He then sped off up the pitch to everyone’s amazement and from a great attacking position Park found themselves defending in their own half.
Another Collins penalty followed to make 12 – 3 before Andy Dunn crossed the line after several phases of play for a try, the first Sheffield had conceded at home since October 2011. Greetham kicked the conversion and Park were now within 2 points at 12 – 10.
Sheffield struck back and immediately encamped near the Park line, before scrum half Matt Poste exploited a gap in the visitors defence to go in for a try under the sticks, converted by Collins.
Park now needed to score twice for the win, although one score would bring them into losing bonus point territory. With 5 minutes to go, Park were awarded a penalty on the Sheff 10 metre line and Andy Dunn and Tommy Marples were exchanging a few pleasantries, before the Park hooker shoved the Sheffield prop, who threw himself to the ground like an Italian footballer. This resulted in a yellow for Dunn and a Bafta for Marples. The penalty then reversed, the home side kicked deep into the Park half to relieve the pressure.
Percy Park still had time to snatch something from the game and a fine break by Ash Smith took him to the Sheffield 22. Keeping play alive, the stand in stand-off popped the ball up to blue and white shirted player coming back from an offside position to cries of foul from the Park faithful. The whistle went with no added time played and another chance to close the gap on the play-off spot went begging.
MORPETH REIVERS 21 – 22 PERCY PARK LIONS
Park Lions advance to the final of the No 2 County Cup with the narrowest of wins over Morpeth 2nd XV. Tries from Colin Murphy and Liam Blackburn cancelled out two penalty tries for Morpeth and although Morpeth scored a third try through Liam Allen, 12 points from the boot of Paul Spowart were just enough to give Park a final spot for the third consecutive year. The final will be against Alnwick II who were given a walk over against Morpeth Edwardians as they couldn’t field a front row. The game will take place on 31st March 2012 KO 2pm at a venue to be arranged.
GATESHEAD 8 – 10 PERCY PARK MARAUDERS
The Marauders found some of their early season form to win this double header against Gateshead IV at the fell.
BLYTH III 0 – 61 PERCY PARK PENGUINS
With most of the Penguins playing only their 3rd game of the season, they somehow managed to regain their glory days to book a place in the final of the No 5 County Cup.
On paper this should have been a tough encounter against Blyth 3rds, a team who play together weekly in the Junior Leagues of Northumberland. The Penguins won the toss and opted to kick into the elements. The early exchanges were fairly even as both sides sounded each other out and Blyth resistance was hard to break down. The scoring started on 10 minutes, then at regular intervals thereafter as the ''Old Men'' started to put Blyth to the sword - this was despite two yellow cards, one was of course for Mr Sin Bin himself the Helmenator.
The Penguins played some flowing rugby not dissimilar to the French in the 70s and had on show their very own Jean Pierre Rives running in numerous tries and converting not very many, finishing with a 61-0 scorline. Notable try scores on the day were - Sam Walton, Andrew Clyde, James Baldwin, David Fairlamb, Alex Giles, Shaun Helme, Tony Turner, Colin Gillespie and Chris Dunn.
The final also takes place on Saturday 31st March 2012 KO 4pm where the Penguins will take on Rockcliff Rangers who defeated North Shields Artisans in the other semi-final.