Saturday 22 February 2025
Percy Park 50 Sandal 9
Regional 1 North East
(HT: 12-9)
At long last! Park finally had a win to celebrate after a blistering second half performance dismantled visitors Sandal to give the team a huge lift and confidence boost ahead of this Saturday’s key game against local rivals Blaydon at Preston Avenue. After a tight first half that the home side just about shaded, a six try second half blitz racked up a commanding 50-9 victory that the lads thoroughly deserved. After recent agonising defeats at Scunthorpe and York, this was just what the team needed and the win takes them out of the relegation places with bottom club Blaydon visiting at the weekend.
There were changes to the side that lost narrowly at York last week with both centres, Seb Reece and Oli Bartles-Smith, missing. In came the returning Fergus Simpson and, making his first start of the season after long term injury, Ross Young. Up front, Michael Birkett came in for Aaron Smith in the front row. Karl Thompson was originally selected but illness forced a reshuffle, Karl dropping to the replacements bench alongside Matthew French and Freddie Hara.
On a bright day with a brisk breeze, Sandal kicked off and within a minute had scored the opening points of the game. Park were penalised from the kick-off for holding on in the tackle and up stepped Sandal centre Thomas Hodson to kick the goal (0-3). From the restart Park quickly got into their stride, the ball moving swiftly right and when Sandal infringed at the breakdown, the resultant kick was put into the right corner. A text book catch and drive had flanker Jonny Dubois score on four minutes, fullback Paul Spowart missing the difficult conversion from wide out (5-3).
From the restart, Park put themselves under immediate pressure when they knocked on inside their own 22. The visitors attacked from the scrum and when Park strayed offside up stepped Hodson to put Sandal back in front on the scoreboard, nine minutes played (5-6). The game then seemed to settle down in midfield, one foray into the Sandal 22 spoiled by a poor attacking home lineout in the right corner. As the game entered the second quarter, a flare up and exchange of punches saw referee Cam Livingstone red card Sandal No 8 Declan Thompson followed immediately by the same for Park flanker Jonny Dubois. It looked fairly innocuous from my vantage point on the far side from where the incident occurred but the referee was right there and had no hesitation in sending both players off, Thompson for the initial punches, Dubois for retaliation.
The game settled into an attritional midfield slog, both sides seemingly finding it difficult to acclimatise to playing with fourteen men. This changed in an instant on thirty-three minutes when, after Sandal were penalised for a high tackle, a quick tap penalty and lightning pace from the returning Young had the Sandal defence at sixes and sevens and after the move broke down, there was scrumhalf Jacob German with a superb side-step and electric pace to score a fantastic try by the posts, Spowart converting (12-6).
As the clock ticked down on the first half, Sandal had the hosts under pressure with a penalty kick on half way being missed but as Park attempted to play out of their own 22, a dropped pass gave Sandal the scrum and when the ball was moved Park were caught offside and with the last kick of the half, Hodson converted the penalty (12-9).
HT: Percy Park 12 Sandal 9
The second half began with Park winning the early exchanges but both sides were guilty of poor handling and indiscipline which hampered any meaningful progress. When Park were awarded a penalty midway in the Sandal half after the visitors were penalised for holding on in the tackle, uncharacteristic back chat from skipper Howard Stock had the decision reversed by referee Livingstone. Sandal failed to capitalize and back came the home side, winning another breakdown penalty inside the Sandal half. Quick thinking again by Ross Young with a quick tap and go had Park deep into the visitors 22 and when the ball was moved left the Park forwards were held up over the line by excellent Sandal defence but they had strayed offside and Park went for the left corner. The catch and drive was held but Sandal infringed again and with the penalty advantage a cross field kick came to nought and Park again kicked to the left corner. This time, a perfect catch and drive had hooker Dan Shuttleworth scoring in the left-hand corner on fifty-two minutes with Spowart kicking an excellent conversion from the left touchline (19-9).
Two minutes later, Park scored the bonus point try. A clearance kick from the inside the Park 22 found space and when gathered by standoff Jordan Carey, the hosts were quickly into the Sandal 22. The ball was moved swiftly left with wing Sol Kench taking on the last defender on the outside and showing a clean pair of heels to run around for another excellent try to the left of the posts. Spowart converted (26-9).
Park had Sandal under pressure from the restart, with the visitors unable to move beyond their own 10 metre line but two quick penalties conceded by the home side could not be capitalized upon again as Sandal quickly knocked on from the second, a tap and go. Excellent kicking by Carey had Sandal again pinned in their own half and when they did try to play out wide from deep on the hour, there was the standoff to intercept a pass to canter in under the posts, Spowart converting to put the home side effectively out of sight (33-9).
Park scored again from the restart, the ball gathered and moved left. A fantastic break from Ross Young along the left touchline and two inside passes had scrumhalf Jacob German in under the posts on sixty-three minutes for Spowart to convert (40-9). Sandal refused to buckle and enjoyed a period of possession in the next few minutes but could not make progress beyond the Park 10 metre line until an overlong clearance kick gave them a scrum on the Park 22. Sandal were struggling to get over the gain line with repeated drives and when they changed tack with a cross field kick left Park quickly regained possession and a kick chase along the left touchline had Park back deep in Sandal territory. Winning a scrum in midfield, the ball was moved quickly right to wing Howard Stock who, with a quick side step was away, evading two tackles to score a great try in the right corner on seventy-three minutes. Spowart missed the difficult conversion (45-9).
The restart kick went straight into touch and from the scrum, quick hands appeared to have put fullback Paul Spowart in for a try but referee Livingstone had seen a forward pass in the build-up. Sandal quickly surrendered possession from the scrum with home No 8 Keith Laughlin putting in an excellent kick to the left corner and from the lineout Sandal were trapped on their own try line. When they did eventually escape, a great break from left wing Chris Atkinson, they knocked on in midfield and from the scrum, Park centre Fergus Simpson made the break, the ball was moved quickly left after he was tackled and there was standoff Jordan Carey to score his second try out wide on the left on 79 minutes. The conversion was missed (50-9).
FT: Percy Park 50 Sandal 9
There were smiles all round at the final whistle after a well deserved victory and relief that a long overdue win had been achieved. Keith Laughlin was again excellent up front for Park, half backs Carey and German controlled the game and Ross Young showed what the team have been missing all season with some excellent running. The only blemish on a great day’s rugby were the two red cards, but both sides had no issue with the referee’s decision. The loss of No 8 Thompson, who up to that point had been very influential, affected Sandal, particularly in the second half when their pack faded badly. To be fair, our visitors were not at full strength due to injury and unavailability but they are problems that we have faced all season and, credit to Sandal, they never gave up.
Not able to stay post-match, I was unable to speak to a player or coach for a view of the game but am sure that the players will have very much enjoyed their evening after the win. However, thoughts were probably already turning to the next game, at home to bottom club Blaydon this coming Saturday, KO at 3pm (It is March so we revert to a 3 o’clock kick off time). All support for this crucial game would be most welcome. The Lions entertain Northern on Saturday, KO is also at 3pm. The Panthers have a rest day but, on Sunday last, entertained Houghton in a hastily arranged friendly fixture, winning 31-14.
Percy Park: 15 Paul Spowart; 14 Howard Stock ©; 13 Ross Young; 12 Fergus Simpson; 11 Sol Kench; 10 Jordan Carey; 9 Jacob German; 8 Keith Laughlin; 7 Jonny Dubois; 6 Jake Smith; 5 Chris Reekie; 4 Sam Digman; 3 Tristan Grant; 2 Dan Shuttleworth; 1 Michael Birkett
Replacements: Karl Thompson; Matthew French: Freddie Hara