Andy Henderson on the attack

National 1
Park had to battle a man short for more than half the match, only to see victory over the third-placed club snatched from them by a converted try in the last second of added time.

Full back Steff Jones put Ampthill ahead on 7minutes with a well-struck penalty.

Park were soon back with a clever kick from number 8, Ed Milne, being taken in full stride by James Inglis who scored a try, converted by fly half Harry Leonard for 7-3 to Park.

The shape of the match changed on 31 minutes when home scrum half Will Crow was adjudged to have stamped on Ampthill skipper Mamma Militia while rucking.


Andy Henderson breaks out

Three minutes into the second half Park grabbed a super try through winger Andrew Henderson, converted by Leonard for 14-3 to give them hope of defying the odds.

Ampthill hit back only two minutes later when lock Paino Hehea forced his way over from two metres out to close the scores to 14-8.

The visitors were beginning to stretch Park’s short-handed defence and got within a point on 59 minutes when winger Sam Baker scored out wide.

When visiting prop Ralph Hale-Adams again took advantage of a stretched defence to score, converted by Jones, to take a 20-14 lead it looked as if the game was up for Park’s 14 men.

But they conjured the try of the match, if not the season, with a brilliant move that sent in Jamie Harries to score, converted by Leonard to lead by 21-20 with six minutes remaining.

Some really committed tackling held Ampthill at bay until the very last second of the match when flanker Joe Bercis forced his way over the line for a last gasp winner, Jones’ conversion adding insult to injury.

Rosslyn Park Attack and Defece Coach, Scott Sneddon said, “We asked the boys to show some pride in the jersey as the previous couple of games we came up short for what's required in a Rosslyn Park jersey. Unfortunately we didn't get the result we deserved but as coaches we were happy with the performance.

“Playing for 55 minutes with 14 men, at 45 minutes with 13 was the difference. A few decisions didn't go our way but credit to Ampthill, they kept coming at us and we couldn't hold out at the end.

“We'll enjoy the time off now but the guys know that we have a lot of work to do in the off season to get where we want to be”
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Park: Robinson; Henderson, Groves, Barnes, Vincent; Leonard; Gash; Nwakor, Piper, Maguire; Inglis, Frampton; Ovens, Hudson, Milne.
Bench: Hughes, McGrath, Harries, Brand, Aspland-Robinson
Park scorers: Inglis (T), Henderson (T), Harries (T), Leonard (3C)

Charlie Addiman

Images: David E Whittam

May 1, 2017