ROSSLYN PARK 21-19 LEICESTER LIONS

01/03/25

The 1st XV shot out to an early lead within the first couple of minutes thanks to an early attack that ended with a Matt Woodward carry across the whitewash, before Leicester responded through Jordan Tebbatt 10 minutes later as the blindside charged down a box-kick before scooping it up and dotting it down under significant pressure. Park came agonizingly close to answering back with a score just two minutes later after a lovely Steffan James miss-pass found Benji Marfo out wide, who streaked away down the touchline before popping the ball back inside for what would have been a certain try, had the ball not been spilled at the last moment. Thankfully, the 1st XV were able to convert the territorial pressure into points soon after this missed opportunity, when the ball was worked to the opposite touchline from a lineout outside the 22 which saw Will Glover canter over. The two sides continued to exchange scores in the first half as Glover’s try was soon followed by Tebbatts’ second, after a succession of short carries by the visitors on the line finally resulted in the back-rower powering over. Jordan Martin then ran in the final score of the half in the dying minutes after a quick tap-and-go by Ewan Fenley drew a yellow card for Leicester’s Joe Brock for not retreating 10m, before the big second-row powered his way over just seconds later.

The second half was a much more tense affair as play was continuously broken up by mistakes and injury stoppages. The only score came from a short carry by Leicester’s Ethan Godefroy as he crossed over with 20 minutes left to shrink Park’s lead to just 2-points. Despite the visitors’ best efforts in the final quarter, they could not add to their points tally as a continuation of the excellent defence shown by the 1st XV towards the end of the first half again frustrated the Lions. In the end, with a Steffan James conversion the only thing separating the teams on the day, Park held on for a hard-fought victory which now sees us sit in third in the table with 6 matches left to play.

By RHYS STRATTON

ROSSLYN PARK

Tries: Woodward (3’), Glover (15’), Laventure (40’)
Conversions: James (4’, 16’, 40’)
Penalties: N/A
Yellow Cards: N/A

Team: Woodward, Cameron, Charalambous, Gillanders, Martin, Laventure, J. Glover, Digby, Fenley, James, Marfo, Stanton, Smith, W. Glover, Walker
Replacements: Wade, Clark, Ellis, Mulchrone, Morgan

LEICESTER LIONS

Tries: Tebbatt (11’, 20’), Godefroy (62’)
Conversions: Bouchier (21’, 63’)
Penalties: N/A
Yellow Cards: Brock (39’)

Team: Burrows, Allen, Dawson, Godefroy, Almond, Tebbatt, Murdoch, Britton, Stubbs, Bouchier, Sterland, Pope, Hamilton, Cousins, Brock
Replacements: Taylor, Thompson, Carr, Ulcoq, Crowley

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Blackheath 22 – 25 Sedgley Park
Darlington Mowden Park 24 – 31 Dings Crusaders
Esher 21 – 37 Sale FC
Rams 33 – 47 Plymouth Albion
Richmond 38 – 21 Bishop’s Stortford
Rotherham Titans 28 – 27 Birmingham Moseley

This week in National One saw just two other sides join Park in securing wins at home as Richmond and Rotherham defeated Stortford and Moseley respectively. Elsewhere, Plymouth picked up a scalp away from home as they nearly put up 50 points in their win against Rams, a result which helped to catapult Park above the Reading outfit into 3rd. Finally, Sedgley Park, Dings and Sale all ran put as winners at Blackheath, DMP and Esher respectively.

Up Next for Park is a trip to 9th placed Bishop’s Stortford.