PERCY PARK 8 - 6 HUDDERSFIELD YMCA
What a glorious day for a game of rugby , but not if you are a winger ! Grey sky , strong biting wind blowing straight up the pitch from the golf course , persistent drizzle with intermittent sleet , I still feel cold writing this !
The visitors , Huddersfield YMCA , I believe we're making a first visit to Preston Avenue . They arrived on the back of a win at Guisborough , determined to make it two consecutive away wins in the scramble to avoid the dreaded bottom three position . Park , despite being better placed in the league , are also in this group of teams where only a handful of points seperates position 6 to 12 .
Park , once again , named a much changed side . So much so , that it meant that with the colts due to be playing we were unable to fulfil a second xv league fixture at Tynedale ! The following young men were the chosen ones ; Cook , Dubois , Birkett , Hedley , Saint , Williamson , Wilson , Langlands , Baldwin , Grove , Caulfield (not sponsored by his dad unlike his pal Grove)Davison , Pike , Sutherland , Fa'atau . Thompson , Phillips , Blackburn .
Park started the game playing with the wind and attacking up toward the gym end of the clubhouse . A delay in my lift meant that I missed an early try from Park . A strange occurrence in recent years , as more often than not it is normally us on the receiving end of an early score . So I will have to take the word of our resident photographer Paul 'chicken-wing' Jackson , who describe it as a catch and drive thingy by the forwards ! 5-0 .
In the early exchanges , Park were dominant in the scrum and territorially . Unsurprisingly with the conditions , there were lots of errors . It was evident just how cold it was by watching the players during the many restarts . Parks Pike and Davison , in particular , carrying out synchronised aerobics whilst their forwards engaged in another scrum .
As the half progressed , YM came more into it . The scrums were now even , and the visitors were working hard in retaining possession with a mixture of pick and goes and slightly wider carries predominantly by their forwards . Following a series of drives , YM created a little bit of space out wide . Unfortunately for them , just as the full back was about to go past Parks scrambling defence , he slipped and the opportunity had gone .
Park also created a couple of opportunities . The first , lineout in front of the clubhouse just outside the visitors 22 , off the top and the backs try to run a move . With the attack drifting across the pitch , the 'Samoan Speedster' cuts a great line , jinks past a couple of defenders then off loads to hooker Dubois , who offloads to Pike who cuts through the defence heading toward the posts only to be stopped a yard short . Parks forwards were penalised at the ruck and the moment had gone . The second , saw substitute Phillips momentarily in the clear after a series of drives from Parks forwards . Once again , the move would finish with awarding of a penalty to the visitors .
Referee Ash blew his whistle , and off the players went to the sanctuary of the dressing room ! What is the game coming to ! 5-0 .
It was the visitors who braved the elements first . Park returned to the field in new strips as did referee Ash , swapping his light blue number for a yellow one . The floodlights were now on . Park kicked off , but immediately the visitors signalled their intent and went on the attack . Having worked the ball up to the halfway , YM kicked the ball deep into Park territory . The chase wasn't great and with Caulfield (sponsored by the Ahar ) covering and Davison offering support , no danger seemed imminent . However , there was a telepathy breakdown , Caulfield fired a pass that was fumbled back over the try line and Davison did well to win the touchdown to give the visitors an attacking scrum under the posts . This woke up Park , at the scrum and in the resulting phases , they pressed hard in D . Davison making up for his earlier error with a strong tackle that dislodged the ball giving Park a scrum . However at this scrum it was the YM forwards who applied the pressure , Park were unable to clear to touch , and were adjudged offside in the chase giving the visitors any easy opportunity of 3 points . 5-3 .
From the restart , it was Parks turn to attack . After a scrum , Park attacked down the short side , Fa'atau at full tilt looked like he was going to go all the way as he cut in field toward the posts but was stopped just short of the line . An attacking scum was awarded . The first , was a bit of a mess , so Park were given a second opportunity . YM pressed a bit too hard and gave away a penalty that Grove (sponsored by Leo's dad) knocked over effortlessly . 8-3 .
From the restart , YM kicked deep into Parks 22 . The freezing figure of Caulfield (yep the one lucky enough to be sponsored the best Indian in the area ) called for the ball but knocked on . Scrum to YM . At the scrum , Park drove their opponents back about 5m then it wheeled slightly and the drive continued a further 5m into touch . Decision was made to re-scrum ? This time the visitors were dominant , the no8 drove at the heart of Parks midfield and a penalty was awarded as the tackler was adjudged to have not rolled away . 8-6 .
Park now had to defend for their lives as YM threw everything at them . Defend they did . However they were fortunate at a lineout on their own 5m that YM decided to throw to the middle/tail . Conditions tricky , your lineout hadn't functioned particularly well all day , and you call it to the tail ? The throw was overthrown but Park deflected the ball over their line giving YM another chance ! At the scrum , Park produced another drive and forced a turnover and Park cleared their lines . Breathe ! But not for long ! At the lineout , Park were penalised . Fortunately the mark was a yard outside Parks 10m 5m in field . YMs coach bellowed 'go for sticks' . On a normal day , it would've been a difficult kick . Yesterday , it was almost impossible . Equally surprising in that throughout the game YM had ran the ball , been relatively successful in doing so , but that was the decision . Unfortunately for YM the kick drifted wide , much to the relief of Park who celebrated the much needed victory as referee Ash signalled the end of the game .
Credit to both sides for their efforts on an appalling afternoon . Next week , a trip to Malton awaits , where I'm sure conditions will be tricky underfoot and the home side will be looking to secure a win . Park now sit in 7th position on 48 points , Dinnington sit in 12th (relegation position) on 40 . Dinnington travel to Guisborough , City travel to Pock , YM entertain Hills , Driffield entertain B&B . An interesting week ahead.
On a negative , it is sad that players nowadays don't see it necessary to assist with putting away the post protectors and flags , or tidy up their rubbish , instead they trundle off to the sanctuary of their free beer leaving our ageing grounds committee to tidy everything away . Even worse was that their free Gatorade bottles were still mostly full . Call me old fashioned , but come on guys you know better than that ! Is it not better that the clubs 1st XV set the standards for everyone else to follow ?