PERCY PARK LIONS 83 - 0 BLAYDON DEVELOPMENT
Saturday 25th February and with the remnants of 'Dorris' hanging around , the Lions entertained Blaydon Development in their last league game of the season .
With the colts playing Tynedale , the assembled Lions were a mixture of all our 3 senior sides , with the 1st xv having no game and the Pumas cancelled due to our player shortage ! Taking the opportunity to play those that haven't had alot of game time recently with the regular Lions and our reliable lads from the Pumas ; Cook , Kidd , Purdy , Phillips , Le Nairn , Thompson , Langlands , Lake , Gilmore , McNulty , Gaff , Jobson , Danil , Berne , Sutherland (Ki) subs Saint , Sanderson , Whitfield, Turnbull .
Skipper Lake lost the toss , again , and Park kicked off towards the Square Field with a healthy wind advantage . Almost immediately , Blaydon were under pressure . A turnover on their 22 saw Park attack wide . Blaydon were adjudged offside in midfield and Park opted to kick the penalty to touch . At the lineout , Thompson rescued an underthrown ball , Gilmore fed the backs , McNulty sucked in the defence to hit Jobson running a great line scoring under the posts untouched 7-0 .
After the restart , Blaydon were once again camped in their own 22 . At a ruck , one of their players attempted an American Football type snap , that went to nobody . It was tidied just short of the line , but pressurised by Park , Blaydon were forced back over their tryline . At the scrum , Lake powered over 14-0 .
The next score wasn't far away . Blaydon tried to clear their lines , but the kick was held up in the wind . Gaff passed to Sutherland who showed great footwork as he danced past 4/5 tacklers on his way to score 21-0 .
Try number 4 started from a scrum in the Blaydon 22 . Parks backs running a move which ended with Jobson unloading to McNulty on the loop . Despite his lack of match fitness the Park 10 showed great flexibility in picking the offload off his toes to score and then convert his own try 28-0 .
Unfortunately I have no idea how the next try was scored as I was still jotting down the notes from the previous one ! All I know is that Danil was the scorer and Mcnulty converted to make it 5/5 . They were all under the posts ! 35-0 .
Blaydon were looking a little dispirited . From the restart Langlands set off on a run , quick ruck and the ball was passed through the hands to Sutherland who ran in from halfway unchallenged . 42-0 .
Try number 7 , was a well worked effort . A Park lineout on the Blaydon 10m saw off the top ball to McNulty , he attacked the opposition midfield before passing to Phillips at full tilt . A little surprised to find himself in space , Phillips realised that he was going to have to put his foot down and score this one himself as his teammates had decided to stand and watch him . He didn't disappoint ! HT 49-0 .
Sutherland got his hat trick with the next score . Saint started it , with a strong run up the touchline in front of the clubhouse . From the ruck , the backs showed good hands , McNulty offloading to Jobson who offloaded to Danil . Gilmore then darted back blind toward the clubhouse where he fed Sutherland who showed a good burst of speed to score in the corner . McNulty missing his first conversion ! Shocking , more practice needed I think , during the week ! 54-0.
The next try highlighted good support play and offloading in the tackle . Purdy followed by Lake then Jobson and s nicely timed pass to Danil . McNulty then missed his second consecutive effort ! 59-0 .
The small crowd were then treated to a moment of magic from Parks lovable prop Purdy . Blaydon had to tried to pin Park in their own 22 but Sutherland just managed to stop the ball from rolling into touch on the 5m . Somehow he wriggled free from the tackle to set up a ruck just inside the Park 22 . Lake snapped a yard or so , then Turnbull threw a long looping pass which bounced into the hands of Purdy . Purdy then burst up to the Park 22 before intelligently kicking into space . Off set left wing Berne , winning the race to the ball the winger showed good footballing skills to twice hack the ball forward before picking the ball up and falling over the line . McNulty , 3/3 ! 64-0 .
Try 11 was scored by Sutherland 69-0 . The twelfth was an excellent effort , started with a lineout for the homeside in their 22 . Loose ball tidied by Kidd . Phillips taking it on . Then the backs feeding Jobson who charged up to the 10m , good timing of the pass to Danil who continued before slipping the ball to the supporting McNulty to score and covert ! 76-0 .
Time for one more score . Once again , a lineout deep in Parks 22 , Jobson making another strong run up to the 10m . The young centre obviously didn't fancy going all the way as he started jinking his run to allow support to catch him . Once again it was the impressive McNulty who made the effort and scored to make the final result 83-0 .
All credit to the Blaydon lads for keeping going right until the end . A great way for Park to finish their league campaign . Hopefully that result will secure a 2nd place finish . Cup fever returns next weekend with a semi final against either Northern or Seghill .