Sunday 22 October 2023
Percy Park Panthers 26 - 12 Consett & District
(HT: 5 - 0)
With storm Babet not putting a stop to any of our matches this weekend, the Panthers welcomed Consett & District to Preston Avenue this Sunday.
We endured a slightly smoky start as one of our neighbours enjoyed a late afternoon garden tidy up but that was soon extinguished and we could now see the pitch.
The Panthers lined up with our new Hooker, Amy Jennings, pulling on the black and white shirt for her debut at Preston Avenue.
Both teams started off strongly coming off the whistle at full force. Good tackling from both sides meant a very physical first few minutes. With our back row at full strength, with Captain Anna Dryden, Nesha Wood and Emma Roberts, we were able to dominate the breakdown and our front 5 dominated in the scrum and off the back of that in the 12th minute we saw Steph Gicquel barge through the defence to score the Panthers’ first try of the match.
Dom Hepples stepped up to take the conversion but it was not to be this time around the kick just going slightly wide. 5 – 0.
Unfortunately, the Panthers then lost their number 10 Bethany Milne to a nasty knee injury in the 20th minute resulting in a trip to hospital. We wish you a speedy recovery Bethany.
After the injury break the game resumed and saw Consett & District take their first try of the match scoring in the 49th minute. No conversion this time with the kick going wide to take the score to 5 – 5.
The Panthers dug deep and in the 52nd minute Steph Gicquel scored her 2nd try of the match with Dom Hepples scoring the conversion bringing the score to 12 – 5. With Consett & District scoring in the 64th minute and converting the try the score was now 12 – 12.
Once again The Panthers came back fighting with Dom Hepples scoring in the 70th minute and converting her try to bring the score up to 19 – 12. Tensions were high but our Captain Anna Dryden, leading from the front as ever, calmed the team down ,refocussing them on the job in hand; they did just that with the next try coming from Sarah Jane Laybourne running the length of the pitch to score under the posts and Dom yet again converting the try
The Panthers took a deserved win with a final score of 26 – 12.
The whole squad put in a tremendous performance but special mention to our forward of the match, Jenny Wood, for her outstanding performance in the scrum and the loose, our Back of the match Dom Hepples for an outstanding performance and kicking the conversions Finally a special to the opposition player of the match Stephanie Gicquel who proved she can truly play any position on the team after appearing at prop centre and full back!.
Point Scorers:
Steph Gicquel 2 Try’s
Dom Hepples 1 Try 3 conversions.
Sarah-Jane Laybourne 1 Try 
