Rosslyn Park were left wondering how they lost a match that they dominated for long periods. From the start Park had most of the attacking possession but to show for it. had only a speculative long-range penalty that narrowly missed
from fly half and skipper Oli Grove

Pretty much the first scent Hull Ionians had of the ball right-wing Sam Wilson broke, won a penalty and fly half Chris Bell chipped it over for 3-0 on 6 minutes.

Park were soon back at their hosts and eventually got the score they had been threatening when Grove kicked a penalty touch on 17 minutes and the forwards drove over, prop Nick Lovell claiming the try and Grove nailing a difficult conversion for 7-3 to the visitors.


Park’s Andy Henderson hits the defence

Park continued to have the lion’s share of attacking possession, but could not get the ball wide to their speedy wingers. Even when reduced to 14 men after full-back Henry Robinson was yellow-carded for allegedly lying on the ball Park did not look in any real trouble.

However, the visitors failed to turn their attacking superiority into points. A rare Hull incursion into Park territory five minutes before the interval saw them gain a five-metre scrum, and when Park went backwards the referee signaled a penalty try for 10-7 to the home side.

Park soon avenged that with a sweeping move that saw Robinson get on the end of it to scamper in for a good try to send his team into the dressing room with a 12-10 lead.

If anyone thought the second half would be a stroll for the visitors, Hull had other ideas and started the second period with clear indications that they were not going to roll over. Only two minutes from the whistle left-wing Andy Humberstone broke away and set up flanker James Sanderson to score, replacement fly half Greg Lound converting for a 17-12 lead.

Three minutes later some questionable defending allowed home centre Lewis Minikin to break up the left and score, Lound adding the extras for 24-12.

It did not take Park long to come back. On 50 minutes a concerted attack saw flanker Arthur Ellis get over, Grove converting for 24-19.

Within a minute of the conversion Park were back with another good move, finished off with a determined run by centre Andrew Henderson for the four-try bonus point. Grove’s conversion restored the lead to Park at 26-24.

Park continued to have more of the attacking play but for all their huffing and puffing they could not blow down Hull’s defensive wall. Possibly the decisive moment came when a rare period of Hull pressure saw Lovell rather harshly sin-binned for the last five minutes.

Hull took the ball to Park’s short-handed defence. They could not find a way through but with barely a minute left they worked the ball back to Lound who hit a peach of a drop goal to steal the lead at 27-26.

The home side captured the ball from the restart and played “up-yer-jumper” rugby until it was time to kick the ball out of play and claim victory.

Park Head Coach, Kieran Power, said “We played some really positive rugby for the majority of the game, but at certain points we lapsed in concentration and Hull were clinical to take their points. We came back well in the second half after a lapse at the start but unfortunately two yellow cards cost us and inevitably was the telling point of the game”.

Park: Robinson; Marfo, Henderson, Barnes, Hassell-Collins; Grove; Crow; Wade, Hughes, Lovell; Spivey, Frampton; Macfarlane, A. Ellis, H Ellis.

Bench: Nwakor, Grey, Ovens, Booth, Morgan
Park scorers: Lovell (T), Robinson (T), A Ellis (T), Henderson (T), Grove (3C)

Next Saturday Park face the long journey to Plymouth Albion, who are unbeaten at home this season.

Charlie Addiman

Images: David E Whittam

February 26, 2018