Tom White’s kicking saw Old Elthamians deny Rosslyn Park a resurgent comeback to win 28-22 at College Meadow.
Three first-half tries gave the home side a 12-point lead at the break, despite going behind in a minute.

Adam Frampton and Charlie Amesbury put the visitors back in touch but Hugh Tizard’s disallowed try denied a comeback.
Park got on the score board within one minute, Arthur Ellis breaking through to feed Oli Grove.


Park & OE fight it out

But OEs responded four minutes later, Harry Ledger finishing off a counter-attack as White’s extras equalised. The home side had the lead after 12 minutes, White running down the left wing but missing his conversion.
Park had hope when Leonard kicked a penalty seven minutes later to reduce the gap to two points.

But they suffered a setback when captain Jonathan Mills went off injured after 22 minutes.
OEs barely gave the visitors room to breathe and earned a penalty seven minutes later, White kicking easily.

The east London side dominated the half form there, James Golledge running onto White’s chip after 33 minutes. The fly-half made sure OEs kept scoring at the restart with two penalties in the next eight minutes.

Park sparked into life on 56 minutes, Frampton hitting the line after some driving play.
There were comeback hopes with 18 minutes to go when Amesbury ran clear on the left wing.
The visitors thought they had done it with a minute to go but Tizard’s effort was judged to be held up by referee Nick Wood, consigning Park to a losing bonus point.

Tries: Grove 1, Frampton 56, Amesbury 64
Conversions: Leonard 2, 57
Penalties: Leonard 19
Line-up (15-9/1-8): Russell Weir (Bam Fadahunsi 65); Connor Hayhow, Oli Grove, Joe Munro, Charlie Amesbury; Harry Leonard, Jack Gash (Weir 73); Mo Nwakor (Doran-Jones 73), Tom Vaughan-Edwards (Karl Gibson 57), Paul Doran-Jones (Stewart Maguire 40); Jonathan Mills © (Hugh Tizard 22), Gregor Gillanders; Adam Frampton, Arthur Ellis, Henry Spencer (Dan Laventure 50)


Park will welcome Darlington Mowden Park to the Rock on January 19 for another big clash.
The northern side’s winning run was brought to an end by London side Blackheath in a 24-29 loss at the Northern Echo Arena. Home supporters will hope to avoid a repeat of last meeting, where DMP won a 34-33 in the last minute.

Warren Muggleton

Images: Ian Carter - OE's photographer

January 16, 2019