Park House FC

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3 April 2004
Park House 74 Askeans 0

How different was this to the last time these two sides met ?At home, dry weather, a strong squad ( incl. subs ), early arrival of everyone ( except them & the ref ! ), a neutral ref ( & not theirs )& one hell of a lot more focus on what was wanted, including some early psyching out of the opposition. Guys, didn't it just go sweetly to plan ?

Park House started full of determination to revenge their earlier season 12-7 defeat by the Merit Table leaders & within moments it was clear that they were committed to it. Park House were playing away from the clubhouse & decent possession was soon provided by the pack & it was very clinically utilised by the backs. A sweeping move from right to left put Moley away in the corner for an unconverted try 5 - 0

.From the restart, & with a good drive back up field it wasn't long before Park were crossing the line again, with Russy completing a lovely backs move, straightening the line, behind the posts & the rest is history. Well, never to be forgotten anyway !I think he's been watching too many videos of French backs, as he somehow failed to put the ball down. No score, still 5-0.Don't worry Russy, that's why it's a team game, you get people like Will to make up for it, and it was he, who from the resultant scrum & ruck, took the inside pass from Frost & drove over for the real try 10-0. Sorry guys, can't remember the conversions.

Minutes later, Park were at it again & up into the same right hand area of the opposition 22, & from a scrum, which Park were already dominating, Danny Catch, playing extremely well at scrum half, broke blind & ran 15metres for a try in the corner. 15-0

This had the positive effect of winding up the mercurial Chris Golder, on the blind side wing, as he would have clearly been in a position to take the glory had he not just been called in towards a central position for a backs move. So...., Park House, having driven the restart up to the 1/2 way & then some, with some gorgeous pick & drive, released the ball blind to the right, & Sweaty, deciding that he didn't want to face the wrath of Fatboy, gave him early ball & Chris did what he does best when he's in the mood. He "ran over the little fella, then he ran over the next little fella, then he went round the next fella, then finally through the last big fella" before dotting down for a beautifully taken try. 20 - 0.

With Askeans now waking up to what was hitting them at 90 miles an hour, Park House showed what rugby means to them, & set about tightening it even further & being even more clinical, & before the half was out, with the pack dominating the line out, the scrums & the rucks ( mostly ) & providing fast, clean ball to the backs, whose handling, if anything, just became even crisper as the match went on, another 4 tries were scored before 1/2 time. 40+ - 0.

Up to this point, Harry, who was now departing the field had played superbly at No.8 & was invaluable in breaking the gain line & always being in close support. He was replaced by Lamby, Danny Catch by Paul Softley ( known to most as Jess, because he is one !) & I think Will moved to second row with Spike leaving the field. Something like that anyway.

Memory again, fails me all the time, it's an age thing ! Playing towards the Clubhouse ( that's one word, not two !! ) Park set about re-establishing their authority & were soon back into their stride, despite the changes, with further sweet back line moves that saw Mole & Russy on the scoreboard again. 50+ - 0

At this point, Askeans, realising it was game over, had joined the referee in jovial banter & the Park pack started getting sucked into it & went off the boil &, for a few minutes Askeans dominated territory, keeping Park pinned down in their 22. A few sharp words & some mental "pulling up of socks", best displayed by Shaggy's defensive tackling at full back, & Park took play back down to Askeans 22 & stayed there for the rest of the match, scoring further tries, backs & forwards.

You will forgive me, but unless anyone can fill in the blanks, there will be people who scored who I forget to mention. Sorry, but there were just too many tries & scorers. Besides, as I keep trying to remind you all, at my age, what kind of recall are you expecting ?

There is one try that I can't forget though, I must have heard about it at least 5 times after the match. OK Lamby, it's here ok ?! With the whistle fast approaching ( he knew this because he'd just asked the ref "How long Sir ?" ( he's so polite our Lamby), & the opportunity to get on the score sheet fast diminishing, Lamby, playing at No.8, having replaced Harry, picked up from the base & drove clean through the first line of defence. Showing remarkable pace for a man of his size, & despite having support to both left & right, he went on his own & finished the scoring spree & the game, as the ref called time.

14 tries, but best of all ? A nil score line