National ‘Papa John’s’ Community Plate Competition
Regional 2 Plate North Round Two
Percy Park RFC 41 v Rochdale RUFC 22
A glorious 80 minutes from Tank takes Park to Birkenhead
Rochdale came across the Pennines quietly confident. The faithful looked to the skies. Scudding black clouds and a persistent energy sapping rain did not set the scene to provide a classic home performance. It was a really manky day. It’s no secret; Percy Park prefers a running pitch. Gluttonous mud can often aid the away side and as the sides took to the pitch the chat on the side-lines was all about the drizzle. Could the weather aid ‘Dale’? Could the Lancashire side translate their quiet confidence into victory winning points? The answer arrived after 20 minutes of sussing each other out. Rochdale were blown away by a spirited and ruthless Percy Park. Chris Reekie led from the front and put in some tremendous hits. The stage was set and Park refused to let go of the game. Game management and clinical execution brought warm praise from Coach Keith Laughlin:
“On a day which was the opposite of last week and therefore, on paper, should be a more difficult day to execute our gameplan I thought we were outstanding. To score 41 points and still have a half assed effort in last twenty minutes excites me for next week. Some of our attacking play, to put it through the hands, combined with the lines of running off the ball was very good. Defensive work was pleasing from a system point of view where a couple of individual errors let us down which we will touch on this week in training. But these small mistakes were overshadowed by a glorious 80 minutes from Christopher Reekie. There is a prime example of a quietly spoken man doing all his talking by hitting people that I can only imagine is at the same force of a Fiat 500 knocking you over at 30 mph.
The gallery will love the tries being scored but I loved the defensive sets for phases, little things off the ball which we have put into practice this season to create a strong foundation to set these scores up. A lot to look forward to and be confident with for a trip to Birkenhead.”
The opening minutes were brutal. Knockout competition raises the stakes and Rochdale took the fight to the home side. Players were flying into the rucks. One or two exchanges had the referee looking without going to the card. Rochdale played a miss move in centre field. Dale came through the line with Ash Smith receiving a nasty bump under his left eye. The play went to the ruck until Percy Park were penalised for a high tackle. An easy strike for Rochdale. Penalty taken. Dale ahead by three. Encouraged they came on. Hard hits from Josh Hedley, Paul Spowart and Chris Reekie had the away side rocked back on their heels. Dale could find no way past an organised Park side. Momentum swung and Percy Park went on the offense.
Rochdale were up quick with a rush defence. Percy kept the ball and whittled away Rochdale’s energy. Probing kicks and astute use of the penalty from player coach Ash Smith took Percy Park to the line out. A nice nudge placing Percy Park well within the away sides 22. The faithful knew the script. A clean catch and we were on the drive. With the ‘pedal to the metal’ we were over. The move was quick and Rochdale couldn’t prevent hooker Dan Shuttleworth from notching the score. The conversion missed. 5 points to 3.
The game was furious and entertaining to watch. A Michael Langlands tackle followed by a great work by Chris Reekie to get over the ball bought a penalty chance. Ash Smith had a look. The strike was within range and the points were duly taken. 8 points to 3 and Park were in their stride. And what a stride. From the restart fast ball and overlapping players working hard stretched the defence. Jonny Dubois raced forward before off loading to the supporting Tom Robinson. The young scrum half had work to do. Head down he went for the line. Swift feet taking him over for a fantastic team try. The conversion missed. 13 points to 3. For the first time in the game Rochdale heads went down.
Encouragement came from the large travelling support. It was to no avail. Tactically Rochdale had lost control. They couldn’t clear the ball from their red zone and any meaningful possession was kicked away as the ball carrier was placed under pressure. We won’t mention Jamie Wrigley’s failure to off load the ball as an undefended try line went begging.
A knock on (or about) Rochdale’s 22 gave Park another chance. A Langlands pick up and out had the home side running numerous dummy lines. As a consequence, a gap opened up and Ash Smith gladly took advantage to stride through and score, Try converted 20 points to 3 and we believed there was no way back for the visiting side. Rochdale tried. Probing our touch line as we erred on the offside. Percy Park absorbed and kept the Lancashire side out. We were a little eager with the front foot and Jonny Dubois felt the referee’s frustration taking a team yellow. Half time beckoned. Rochdale elected to run the ball rather than taking the three points on offer. The move broke down with a poor pass. Park ushering the ball in touch. Frustrated the Rochdale lock throw and arm and a little flare up took us into the turnaround and a warning to both sides from the referee.
The halftime whistle had ‘our’ Robin’s partner heading home for a change of clothes. Enjoying much needed time off with pint in hand the young surgeon was waxing lyrical on how cute scrum half Tom Robinson looked when she was struck in the midriff by a clearing kick. The hard-earned pint cascaded over clothing. Jobba jogged over with towel in hand. What a gentleman we thought rescuing a damsel in need. We should have known better. Jobba collected and wiped the ball clean before handing the pill to Dan Shuttleworth for the throw in; leaving poor Emma covered in Brians best Atlantic beer. A little chuckle and he was off. All I can say is that I’m glad Jobba is no longer on the NHS waiting list for his new hip!!
Fourteen men didn’t phase Park. They hit the second half quickly with two ‘quick fire’ tries. First over was prop Aaron Smith with a thunderous ‘pick and go’ closely followed by Ash Smith with a mazy weave to the line. Both tries converted and Park were ahead by 34 points to 3. It really wasn’t Rochdale’s day. knock ons, mis placed passes and poor decision-making life difficult.
Their MOM Edward ‘Eddie’ Shanks was trying to carry his team forward. Then he was hit by the Reekie Rocket. The hit heard on Tynemouth beach. Shanks bounced to his feet and sportingly congratulated his opponent. Some tackle and drew the comparison to ‘Tank’ driving a Fiat 500; however, I doubt he would fit in one! Certainly, an impressive moment in the game that had Captain Seb Reece naming the second row as a ‘Taker of souls.’
Coach Laughlin ran the bench at the end of the yellow and we were back up to 15. A slice of fortune brought Rochdale forlorn hope. A speculative punt over the rush defence and a favourable bounce gave the Rochdale ‘10’ the ball. Our full back was up and made a super tackle. The ball went forward. An obvious knock on. Play continued as Rochdale flooded Parks try line. I thought we had the ball but it slipped out of grasp and Rochdale touched down to score. Their effort converted.
As the rain deluged Park became a little sloppy and our penalty count went slightly north. Percy Park stuck at it and brought the ball in front of the Rochdale posts. A good scrum had Dale rocked on the slippery surface. Tom Robinson flipped the ball to his right with Seb Reece crashing over to score. Duly converted the score stood at 41 to 10.
With the margin high Park didn’t maintain their high standards. The conditions were miserable and as Keith Laughlin suggested we got a “half assed effort” in the final 20 minutes. Not surprisingly Rochdale took advantage. They are a good side and as our individual errors let them back in. Overall, our penalty count was 17 to Rochdale’s 6. Dale took the points on offer finishing the contest on a 41 to 22 scoreline. At the whistle nobody hung around on the pitch or on the side of it. Hot showers and a warmer were the order of the day. Honestly the weather was dire!
Representing Percy Park RFC
From 15: Jamie Wrigley, Howard Stock, Seb Reece, Ross Young, Tom Robinson, Toby Davison and Charley Miller
From 8: Leo Caulfield, Jonny Dubois, Andy Dunn, Josh Hedley, Michael Langlands, Chris Reekie, Dan Shuttleworth and Aaron Smith.
Finishers: Niall Combe, Paul Spowart and Adam Hay.