Park could hold their heads high after this defeat to the runaway League leaders, who looked a different class to anyone else in National 1.

Park made the early running with a first minute penalty by Scott Sneddon before Hugo Ellis powered over, Sneddon converting, for 10-0 after only 7 minutes.

Park’s tackling kept Hartpury at bay until a good pass put away their Harlequin winger Jonas Mikalcius to score out wide on the left on 19 minutes.

The speedy winger added a second five minutes later, converted by Jacob Perry to give the home side a 12-10 lead.

Sneddon and Perry swapped penalties for 15-13, but the ten minutes either side of half-time proved to be Park’s undoing.

Centre Steve Leonard broke away to score for the home side to score on 37 minutes, converted by Perry for 22-13 at the interval.


Park’s defence in action

In general Park’s tackling was spot on, but missed tackles allowed Joe Dancer to break away and score on 43 minutes, followed by Mikalcius completing his hat-trick two minutes later. Both efforts were converted for 37-13 and it looked as if Park would get blown away like most visitors to Hartpury.

However, Park steadied the ship, and then took the game to their opponents. Full back Henry Robinson got a try back for Park, converted by Sneddon for 37-20.

Then Sneddon got over the line, converting himself for 37-27. Park were the first away side to score three tries against Hartpury this season, but time ran out before they could register the bonus point they richly deserved.

Park: Robinson; Kohler,Henderson, Leonard, Field; Sneddon; Weir; Lilley, Bellamy, Maguire; Frampton, Spivey; Milne, Ovens, Ellis.
Bench: Vaughan-Edwards, Wade, Boyle, Reay, Gash
Park scorers: Sneddon (T, 2P, 3C), Ellis (T), Robinson (T)

Rosslyn Park’s Backs, Attack and Defence Coach, Scott Sneddon, said:
“We started well against a strong Hartpury team and won the early battles. Unfortunately we did not back this up for the middle period of the game and Hartpury took advantage of our lack of concentration in set piece and defence and quickly capitalised on our errors.

“We showed good character and some great rugby in the last 20 minutes to pull the score back to 10 points but it was too little too late. We gifted Hartpury 14 points and you simply cannot give the top of the league chances as they were clinical in taking them.

“Credit to Hartpury and they showed why they have now gone 10 wins on the bounce. However, we are disappointed knowing if we played for 80 minutes then we could and should have taken more from the game”.

Looking forward to Friday night’s Local Derby against Esher at the Rock (kick off 7:45PM) he added, “We've got another big challenge this week in the form of Esher. It’s another London Derby which we'll look forward to. We are hoping for a big crowd on Friday night at The Rock and will make sure we better the performance of the last weekend. If we do this then I'm sure it will be another great night”.

Charlie Addiman

Images: David Whittam

November 7, 2016