Another thriller at the Rock went right down to the wire, with a last minute try from Adam Frampton finally sealing victory over the side who are second in the National 1 table.

Play was even, but Mowden blinked first, handling the ball in a ruck to allow fly-half Harry Leonard to kick Rosslyn Park into a 3-0 lead.


Henry Robinson scores for Park

Park were clearly ‘up’ for this one, tackling as if lives depended on it. Reward came on 23 minutes when winger Ollie Hassell-Collins got on the end of a kick in full flight and passed inside for full-back Henry Robinson to score against his old club. Leonard converted for 10-0.

Park were now in control and four minutes later the pack drove over, Hugo Ellis claiming the try and Leonard adding a conversion for 17-0.

Better was to come with a tremendous break from centre Andrew Henderson five minutes before the interval. When he was finally halted he managed to offload to Hassell-Collins who streaked away to score, Leonard again on target with the conversion for 24-0.

Park could not quite manage to control play to the interval, a surge from Mowden saw full-back Brett Connon get over the line, fly half Warren Seals’ conversion bringing half-time at 24-7.


Ollie Hassell-Collins scores for Park

Park made a solid start to the second half, winning a long-range penalty but Leonard’s kick bounced back into play off the post.

After that Rosslyn Park were rarely able to escape their own half for the next half-hour as Mowden ratcheted up the pressure and looked every inch a top of the table side.

Park kept up their tackling, but it looked an irresistible tide coming towards them. The one time they didn’t nail a tackle it allowed Sears to skip in for a soft try that he converted himself for 24 – 14 on 49 minutes.

On the hour a sweeping move stretched the home defence to breaking point and scrum half Matt Dudman skipped over to close things to 24-21 with Garry Law’s conversion.

With nine minutes remaining a period of intense pressure on the home defence saw replacement front-row Joe Craggs bundled over to give Mowden the four-try bonus point and the lead at 26-24.

It looked all over for Rosslyn Park but somehow they mustered the resources to fight back. The pack drove at Mowden, released the ball for a strong run from Henderson that committed defenders before a splendid pass out wide saw winger Benji Marfo display electric pace to dive in at the corner. An ‘impossible’ conversion was nailed by Leonard to restore Park’s lead at 31-26 with five minutes remaining.

The home side were in no mood to sit on their lead and suddenly Mowden, who had been dictating things for a long time, looked distinctly rattled. With a minute to go a concerted attack was rewarded when the ball reached Adam Frampton who powered over to seal a hard-earned victory. Leonard’s conversion brought the final score at 38-26.

A delighted Head Coach, Kieran Power, said,” We had focused all week on starting the game well and on our scrum giving us that foundation.

“We had a great first half but DMP are a good side and we knew they would throw the kitchen sink at us and the guts and determination to stay in the fight by the boys was excellent.

“That spirit and bravery to still play some great attacking rugby at the end of the game was what pulled us through to what was a great home win”

Park: Robinson; Marfo, Henderson, Leonard, Hassell-Collins; Grove; Crow; Nwakor, Bellamy, Lovell; Spivey, Frampton; Macfarlane, A. Ellis, H Ellis.
Bench: Hughes, Wade, Hudson, Gash, Amesbury
Park scorers: Robinson (T), Hassell-Collins (T), H Ellis (T), Marfo (T), Frampton (T), Leonard (P, 5C)

Next Saturday Park have no fixture before entertaining Ampthill, currently third in the league, at the Rock on 24 March.


Charlie Addiman

Images: David E Whittam

March 12, 2018