ROSSLYN PARK 44-26 ESHER

SATURDAY 5 OCTOBER

By RHYS STRATTON

Saturday’s early-season clash with yet another local rival lived up to the billing and produced twelve tries as both sides flexed their attacking muscles and played some brilliant running rugby. The match started with Esher pouring it on straight from kickoff, but despite the early pressure by the visitors, it was the 1st XV who were the ones to open the scoring when Player of the Match James Cordy-Redden found himself 1-on-1 with an Esher defender after some dynamic carrying in midfield had narrowed the Esher defence. The clinical winger then bumped off the would-be tackler and ran it in out wide for the first of many impressive tries scored on the day. Esher rallied well and responded quickly with a try of their own as they won a penalty straight from the restart and pinned Park back until Stan Norman could eventually cross over.

Following this score, the 1st XV proceeded to dominate the remainder of the first half and ran in four more tries before the break. First, Jasper Cameron steered a powerful maul over the opposition tryline, before Cordy-Redden almost doubled his tally after a slick move looked to have sent him through. However, an excellent last-ditch tackle by an Esher defender forced the ball loose as the winger reached for the line. Although they had survived momentarily, the visitors couldn’t hold out much longer under the mounting Park pressure and Rhys Charalambous barrelled his way over just five minutes later following a huge break by centre Matt Gordon which brought play down to within 10m of the line before an offload found the hands of the big tighthead. Not content to let the momentum slip, the 1st XV dotted down twice more as Jack Digby shrugged off a defender out wide to touch down after multiple phases in the Esher final third and Jasper Cameron crossed over from the back of another unstoppable driving maul.

In the second half, Esher tighthead Henry Pearson pulled one back for the visitors as he crashed over between the sticks after a 5m lineout, but the 1st XV replied through Charlie Walker just four minutes later when the ball was pulled out the back of a third Park maul and spread wide to the ever-clinical finisher. The sides continued to exchange tries when a James Botterill score from a break out wide on the halfway was followed by a second Walker try following a loose Esher clearing kick. Walker almost had a hand in two more Park tries during this period as twice he combined with Josh Addams out wide who twice came agonisingly close to scoring. First, a 1-2 between Addams and Walker nearly resulted in Addams beating the last man out wide to cross over but another excellent intervention by a covering Esher defender forced the ball loose inside the 5m. Then, just a few minutes later the two combined once more, this time aided by the quick hands of Josh Bragman, which led to Addams tiptoeing his way down the left-hand touchline only to be forced into touch just a couple of steps before the tryline.

The final 10-minutes saw an unlucky Arthur Ellis yellow card for an accumulation of penalties lead to a Conor Ganley try from the subsequent tap-and-go. However, it was too little too late for the visitors and the 1st XV finished the match in style with a perfectly weighted, floated miss-pass by Bragman finding the hands of Cordy-Redden late on for his second try of the day and Park’s eighth.

ROSSLYN PARK

Tries: Cordy-Redden (8’, 75’), Cameron (21’, 38’), Charalambous (31’), Digby (35’), Walker (52’, 62’)
Conversions: James (10’, 22’)
Penalties: N/A
Yellow Cards: Ellis (72’)

Team: Cade, Cameron, Charalambous, Burton, Martin, Bolwell, Ellis, Digby, Fenley, James, Addams, Gordon, Manihera, Cordy-Redden, Walker

Replacements: Loïc, Woodward, Wrafter, Mulchrone, Bragman

ESHER

Tries: Norman (12’), Pearson (48’), Botterill (59’), Ganley (74’)
Conversions: Morley (13’, 49’, 75’)
Penalties: N/A
Yellow Cards: N/A

Esher: Morris, Spiers, Pearson, Sammut, Inglis, Wilkins, Norris, Thorne, Mortimer, Morley, Botterill, Rawstron-Rudd, Volley, Norman, Faulkner

Replacements: Westmacott, Ganley, Skoumbourdis, Seriki, Bullock

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Blackheath 40 – 5 Darlington Mowden Park
Plymouth Albion 35 – 15 Birmingham Moseley
Rams 54 – 29 Leicester Lions
Richmond 31 – 27 Sale FC
Rotherham Titans 45 – 19 Dings Crusaders
Sedgley Park 12 – 27 Bishop’s Stortford

This weekend saw a near-cleansweep for the home sides with Bishop’s Stortford the only team to claim a victory away from home as they turned over Sedgley Park up in Manchester. Elsewhere, both Rams and Richmond continued their unbeaten starts to the season as they defeated Leicester and Sale respectively whilst Blackheath, Plymouth and Rotherham all joined Park in picking up bonus-point wins at home.

Up Next for Park is a trip up North to take on Sale FC.