ROSSLYN PARK 49-24 DARLINGTON MOWDEN PARK
18/01/25
By RHYS STRATTON
The 1st XV ran out as comfortable winners at The Rock on Saturday as they swept aside a struggling DMP to extend Park’s winning streak.
Sam Kennaugh got the scoring started early after he helped to clean up a loose ball from a miscue at the lineout before crashing over. Steffan James quickly doubled the lead thanks to a slick dummy during a set-piece strike move that allowed the fly-half to step inside the drifting defence and dot down. DMP finally established a foothold in the game after 20 minutes and immediately converted their first two chances into points as Ben Douglas won a footrace to dot down a kick over the Park line before Ewan Greenlaw finished off a nice move just minutes later. The 1st XV responded well to the swing in momentum and soon crossed over through new-signing Ehize Ehizode on a short carry, however the try was ruled out for what the referee deemed as obstruction in the build-up. Then, after the Park pack squeezed a penalty from a scrum against the head late in the half, a kick to the corner led to several phases of play deep in opposition territory that very nearly resulted in a try, but the visitors were able to hold the ball up over their own line which allowed them to clear.
A far more free-scoring 40 minutes followed the tight first-half and Ehizode got the ball rolling after 10 minutes with a powerful carry from turnover ball in the DMP 22 that this time counted for the big second-row. Then, Benji Marfo went over in the corner for the hosts following a 5m attacking scrum which had been won thanks to a Josh Bragman charge down inside the DMP dead ball area. The visitors answered with a try from nowhere as Jacob Oliver finished off a 60m break to stem the bleeding. However, this provoked a response from the 1st XV as they turned up the pressure and quickly scored twice more, first through Kennaugh which came thanks to a Charlie Mulchrone snipe and offload. Then, substitute Jack Glover got it on the scoring action as he muscled his way over the DMP line in the corner. The visitors claimed a consolation score in the final 10 minutes thanks to a nice finish by Luckas Sableman-Blue, but it was the 1st XV who had the last laugh when Isaac Miller steered a maul over the DMP line in the final minute. Bragman’s conversion from the touchline in the 80th minute then completed a perfect performance from the tee by himself and James as the two outside-halves combined to go 7-for-7 on the day.
ROSSLYN PARK
Tries: Kennaugh (4’, 63’), James (14’), Ehizode (50’), Marfo (56’), Glover (68’), Miller (79’)
Conversions: James (5’, 15’), Bragman (51’, 57’, 64’, 69’, 80’)
Penalties: N/A
Yellow Cards: N/A
Team: Cade, Cameron, Clark, Spencer, Ehizode, Ledger, Ellis, Digby, Mulchrone, James, Marfo, Kennaugh, Stanton, Cordy-Redden, Walker
Replacements: Miller, Wade, Glover, Davies, Bragman
DMP
Tries: Douglas (19’), Greenlaw (24’), Oliver (60’), Sableman-Blue (72’)
Conversions: Read (25’, 61’)
Penalties: N/A
Yellow Cards: N/A
Team: Barron, Oliver, Harrison, Usher, Hall-Lyon, Craggs, Jones, Tiffen, Douglas, Read, Law, Greenlaw, O. Walker, Ree
Replacements: Fraine, Kyle-Clay, Turnill, Gibson, Trees
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Blackheath 51 – 26 Birmingham Moseley
Plymouth Albion 24 – 21 Bishop’s Stortford
Rams 26 – 17 Dings Crusaders
Rotherham Titans 23 – 17 Sale FC
Sedgley Park 25 – 10 Leicester Lions
Richmond 40 – 22 Esher
This week in National One saw the top 6 sides all pick up wins with Sedgley Park being the only bottom-half team to produce a victory in their win against the Lions in Manchester. Elsewhere, title hopefuls Richmond and Rams joined Park in securing bonus-point wins at home as they defeated Dings and Esher respectively, whilst Blackheath did the same in their match against Moseley. Finally, Rotherham edged out Sale at home but failed to pick up a bonus point, meaning Park have now shrunk the gap to just 2-points between 3rd and 4th
Up Next for Park is a short trip across to Esher as the 1st XV will look to extend the winning streak to 5.