Saturday 21 March 2026
Percy Park 19 Morpeth 36
Regional 2 North
(HT: 14-17)
For the second successive match, Park suffered a comprehensive defeat, this time to play-off chasing Morpeth and, although Park led early in the second half, the remainder of the game was a catastrophe for the home side with three last quarter tries giving the visitors the bonus point victory. It was a difficult day at the office with defensive lapses contributing to a lacklustre performance and although injury and unavailability are problematic, they cannot be used as an excuse.
There were wholesale changes to the side heavily defeated at Keswick two weeks ago. In the backline, only Dan Jackson and Freddie Hara survived, Ross Stewart, Oli Bartles-Smith and Matt Dunn replaced by Tom Bird, Howard Stock and Paul Spowart respectively while at half back, George Chapman moved from scrum half to standoff in place of Fergus Simpson with Jacob German coming in to the number nine slot. In the forwards, Mark Barry replaced the very versatile Spowart in the back row, Josh Hedley returned to partner Chris Reekie in the second row with Dan Shuttleworth replacing Jonny Dubois at Hooker and Tristan Grant coming in for Nick Macklin-Copeland in the front row, Macklin-Copeland joined Josh Cox and Tom Robinson on the replacements bench.
On a bright sunny, albeit chilly, day Morpeth kicked off but it was Park, moving the ball wide, who had much the better of the early , with prop Sam Digman prominent, and they quickly opened the scoring after four minutes. A lineout in the visiting 22 gave the Park forwards the momentum to almost reach the Morpeth line before quick hands right had captain Howard Stock scoring under the posts, standoff George Chapman converting (7-0).
It did not take long for Morpeth to respond. Park gained possession from the restart but were pinned back in their own 22 eventually conceding a defensive lineout. A poor clearance kick was fielded easily on the home 10 metre line and a mazy run by visiting fullback Jake Stevenson who sidestepped three defenders gave wing Harry Hoggan the space to score just to the right of the posts on twelve minutes, standoff Harvey Gillie converting (7-7).
The Morpeth backline were proving elusive, their strong running causing defensive problems for the home side. On twenty-two minutes, Morpeth took the lead with a penalty from the halfway line converted with an excellent kick from Gillie, the visitors unable to use the referee’s advantage after a high tackle in midfield (7-10). Park began to build pressure, keeping possession and a good break from Chapman eventually allowed the Park forwards to batter the visiting line and after Tristan Grant was stopped inches from the line the ball was recycled for second row Chris Reekie to crash over under the posts, Chapman converting on twenty-eight minutes (14-10).
The remainder of the half was full blooded, both captains warned by referee Ross for the number of high tackles, with Morpeth now gaining the upper hand in terms of possession and territory. From a ruck on halfway, visiting standoff Harvey Gillie chipped the ball over the onrushing defence, and although he could not regather he hacked on past the last two defenders for wing Harry Hoggan to score his second try on thirty-four minutes, Gillie converting (14-17). There was no further scoring before the break.
HT: Percy Park 14 Morpeth 17
It was the home side who dominated the opening minutes of the second half in terms of both possession and territory and on forty-four minutes they were rewarded when second row Josh Hedley crashed over in the left corner. From a lineout on the visiting 22, the ball was moved right to the touchline before being moved back left. Chris Reekie provided the dent in the defensive line and when the ball was moved left again a long pass from skipper Howard Stock found Hedley who was unstoppable from a few metres out. The difficult conversion was missed (19-17). With the home lead restored and Park dominating the opening few minutes of the half, few people in the ground would have guessed the implosion to come in the last twenty minutes.
Indeed, for the remainder of the third quarter, Park keeping the visitors pinned back in their own half and looking the more likely to score but when, after fifty-five minutes, Chris Reekie received a yellow card for a high tackle, the dynamic of the game began to shift, Morpeth gaining a measure of control with the extra man advantage. The home side began to lose their discipline and when they were penalised again, seven or eight metres out on the right touchline, a quick tap and go had Park scrambling in defence which was finally breached when hooker Ryan Shaw was able to exploit a gap and crash over on sixty-two minutes, the conversion missed (19-22).
Morpeth struck ten minutes later to put the match beyond Park. From a ruck on halfway, replacement Joe Prescott scythed through the Park defence as if it did not exist to score under the posts, Gillie converting (19-29). The coup de gras came in the seventy-seventh minute when a kick ahead was not dealt with, the ball went loose for wing Harry Hoggan to score his third try of the day. Gillie converted to complete a comprehensive victory (19-36).
FT: Percy Park 19 Morpeth 36
The body language of the home players said it all as they left the field of play, the disappointment evident. Standoff George Chapman offered his thoughts post-match: “Hard to put a finger on it. Things changed after the yellow card but in truth, we were struggling before that. Our backs didn’t seem to connect, more individuals than a team, and I think it showed. That said, Morpeth were the better team and we have to accept that. We have to play better in our last two games if we want to make it to the play-offs”.
Park remain in third place on fifty-nine points despite heavy defeats in the past two games, though that is on points difference, as Keswick and Sunderland are also on fifty-nine points. Morpeth close the gap with this victory, just three points behind with all teams having just two games left to play.
Our thanks to Morpeth for a hard-fought game and we congratulate them on the victory and wish them well for the rest of the season. Our thanks also to our match referee. Elsewhere, the Lions defeated Morpeth 41-24 and the Panthers lost to league leaders Rockcliff 45-12 at Hillheads on Sunday.
Next Saturday, the 1st XV visit Consett, KO 2pm in their penultimate game of the league season with the teams meeting at 2nd XV level at Preston Avenue, KO 2pm. On Sunday, our unbeaten Colts travel to Barnard Castle, KO 1pm.
Percy Park: 15 Dan Jackson; 14 Tom Bird; 13 Howard Stock ©; 12 Paul Spowart; 11 Freddie Hara; 10 George Chapman; 9 Jacob German; 8 Matthew French; 7 Leo Caulfield; 6 Mark Barry; 5 Chris Reekie; 4 Josh Hedley; 3 Sam Digman; 2 Dan Shuttleworth; 1 Tristan Grant
Replacements: Nick Macklin-Copeland; Josh Cox; Tom Robinson