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Practice match

Rosslyn Park finished their practice matches by lighting up a Friday evening for a large crowd with a scintillating display of running rugby against a spirited and skillful Irish side, who drew first blood with a good try up their left wing on 9 minutes.

Park swiftly replied with a great move that saw centre Dan Barnes dot down for 5-5.

It was not until 25 minutes that Park broke through again, resorting to a forward drive that saw hooker Adam Bellamy score, Leonard converting for 12-5.


Park's Henry Robinson on the attack

Irish replied two minutes later with a driving maul of their own for 12-10, but that was as good as it got for the visitors.

A rush of further tries from Harry Hudson, Rhys Crane and Frank Taggart saw Park reach the interval with a lead of 33-10.

Park emptied the bench in the second half and perhaps lost a little cohesion as a result. But they scored the try of the match when winger Alfie Dudman-Jones made a great run up the left and passed inside for flanker Nathan Thomas to score, Leonard converting for the final score of 38-10.

Now the really serious stuff begins as Park open their League campaign this coming Saturday, away to Old Albanian.

Park Head Coach Kieran Power said:“It was a positive that we won the game to take momentum into next week, but still lots to work on. For about 40 minutes, twenty minutes either side of half-time, we looked an organised threatening side. After that it was a game broken up with individual errors and set piece discrepancies which spoilt the game.

“As a group we were glad of the result but frustrated as we felt we left some points out there - but we know there is so much more to come”.

Park: Robinson; Crane, Henderson, Barnes, Weir; Leonard; Crow; Nwakor, Bellamy, Maguire; Frampton, Spivey; Taggart, Hudson, Spencer.
Bench: Gibson, Wade, Gratton, Gray, Thomas, Gash, Dudman-Jones, Cooke, Milner


Charlie Addiman

Images: David E Whittam

August 29, 2017