With the season formally ended the previous Saturday – along with the players’ contracts – Park nevertheless had to make the long journey to Plymouth to fulfil the fixture that was postponed from March. From Park’s point of view, nothing more than pride was at stake, but the home side had to win to maintain their bid to finish third in the table.

Park had only 18 players available, leaving them two short on the bench, and of those three were hookers and three scrum halves! Nevertheless Park’s makeshift team pushed Plymouth all the way, for the first half at least.


Charlie Amesbury is held

It was clear from the start that Park were there to enjoy themselves and throw the ball around. They initially took the ball to their opponents, but were undone when Plymouth Number 8 Herbie Supple intercepted to race away and, when caught, laid off to centre Dean Squire who touched down. Full-back Matt Shepherd converted for 7-0 on four minutes.

Plymouth had far more possession, but Park tackled well and – when they got the ball – always looked dangerous.

It looked like being a long afternoon for Park, though, when Shepherd kicked the ball past the visiting defence and winger Harrison Cully won the chase for it, Shepherd adding a conversion for 14-0 with only sixteen minutes gone.

But Park came back with winger Benji Marfo flying up the left wing from inside his own half, evading two tackles at top speed before off-loading to stand-in fly half Jack Gash who side-stepped a defender to pass on to centre Huw Morgan who completed a classic try. Full-back Ollie Milner converted for 14-7 on nineteen minutes.

It was Marfo again who started the move that saw Park equalize just before the interval, but the lion’s share of credit must go to replacement Charlie Amesbury whose blistering pace defied tacklers to score a fine try. Milner again converted for 14-14.

Park should have reached the interval all-square, but on the stroke of half-time they tried to play their way out of defence when the application of the boot was called for, the ball was spilled and Plymouth winger Jordan Gott seized it and touched down. Shepherd’s kick brought the interval at 21-14.

Hopes of a Park revival were soon eradicated with three home tries in the first sixteen minutes of the second half, a second from Gott, one from centre Robbie Weeks and one from hooker James Salter when the home pack drove over.

Park never gave up, but when an extended period of pressure on the home line yielded no score it was clearly not going to be their day.

Shepherd atoned for three missed conversions with a try of his own, though could not convert that either, and in the last ten minutes Weeks bagged two to complete his hat-trick, Shepherd’s conversions bringing the final score of 53-14.

Park Defence Coach, Andy Reay, said, “For more-or-less a scratch side we played very well, particularly in the first half. The boys out there gave everything and I’m proud of them”.

Park: Millner; Crane, Barnes, Morgan, Marfo; Gash; Brand; Wade, Bellamy, Lovell; Higgins, Gray; Vaughan-Edwards, Hughes, Macfarlane.
Bench: Smith, Crow, Amesbury
Park scorers: Morgan (T), Amesbury (T), Millner (2C)


Huw Morgan scores for Park


Charlie Addiman

Images: Marian Parker

May 6, 2018