ROSSLYN PARK 18-15 BISHOP’S STORTFORD
FRIDAY 8 NOVEMBER
By RHYS STRATTON
Bishop’s Stortford got off to the faster start on Friday night and had a chance to open the scoring early on thanks to a penalty in the middle of the park, but the kick was put wide of the posts (a sign of what was to come in the match as the two sides combined to go 1-for-8 from the tee). Following a yellow card shown to Isaac Miller for a near-turnover which served to slow down a Stortford attack, the visitors made the most of the man-advantage when Jack Biard crossed over out wide. The 1st XV quickly narrowed the lead through the boot of Josh Bragman following a penalty on the opposition 10m line before a flurry of infringements by the visitors resulted in a Will Rogers sin-binning. Stortford managed to survive the yellow card initially, holding up a Park maul over their own line, but finally conceded on the stroke of half-time when Benji Marfo joined in on another maul deep in opposition territory and squeezed his way over the line.
In the second half, Park almost crossed the whitewash four times in quick succession, only to be denied at the last second by some stout Stortford defence. First, Miller was forced into touch just short of the line after a huge carry by debutant Sam Kennaugh had Stortford backpedalling. This was soon followed by a Jack Digby offload in a threatening position that was batted back into touch by the visitors. Then, Marfo almost added to his tally twice in quick succession as he almost got on the end of a Bragman kick that just ran dead before being dragged into touch inside the 5m line just minutes later. However, the pressure eventually proved too much for Stortford to withstand and PotM Jordan Martin finally powered his way over the line after breaking off from a maul. Rhys Charalambous soon extended the lead once more with a powerful carry of his own from a pick-and-go with a quarter of an hour left to play.
Stortford rallied late on and two tries in the final 10 minutes by Chris Bolton and Tom Mills looked to have ignited an unlikely comeback, but 1st XV regathered themselves and returned to the form in defence that had held the visitors to just 5 points across the first 70 minutes of the contest. In the end, Park held on for a hard-fought, but well-deserved win to make it 6 in a row.
ROSSLYN PARK
Tries: Marfo (40’), Martin (58’), Charalambous (66’)
Conversions: N/A
Penalties: Bragman (16’)
Yellow Cards: Miller (8’), Spencer (71’)
Team: Cade, Miller, Woodward, Spencer, Martin, Digby, Hosking, Wrafter, Mulchrone, James, Marfo, Bragman, J. Smith, Cordy-Redden, Walker
Replacements: Cameron, Charalambous, Bolwell, Davies, Kennaugh
BISHOP’S STORTFORD
Tries: Biard (12’), Bolton (71’), Mills (76’)
Conversions: N/A
Penalties: N/A
Yellow Cards: Rogers (25’)
Team: Smith, Bell, Bridges, Ferguson, Kiff, Langworthy, Johnson, Rogers, Bolton, Powell, Gilham, Pope, Biard, Mills, Hayes
Replacements: Olver, Hill, Jones, Briers, Stannard
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Richmond 42 – 14 Birmingham Moseley
Blackheath 31 – 27 Sale FC
Darlington Mowden Park 36 – 29 Leicester Lions
Esher 51 – 32 Dings Crusaders
Rams 40 – 22 Sedgley Park
Rotherham Titans 18 – 17 Plymouth Albion
This week in National One saw a clean sweep for the home sides. Things are heating up near the bottom of the table as DMP picked up their first win of the season by beating fellow strugglers Leicester Lions in the Northeast whilst Esher put up 51 points in a huge win over Dings Crusaders. Elsewhere, Rams kept their unbeaten streak alive with a win against Sedgley Park in Reading, but remain just two points clear at the top of the table thanks to another Richmond victory over Moseley at The RAG.
Up Next for Park is a trip to the West Midlands as we are set to take on Birmingham Moseley.