Birkenhead Park RFC

Sat 7 Sep 2024

Birkenhead Park

18 - 60

(HT 0-0)

Newport (Salop)

Birkenhead Park

Newport (Salop)

 The opening game of the new season did not start well at for Park. The scene was set with park under pressure from the first scrum giving untidy ball which resulted in a knock on in the midfield. From Newport’s resulting scrum the ball was simply moved into the midfield and a missed tackle later and Newport were in, 0-7. When the restart went straight out Park put themselves under pressure again and Newport did not need asking twice. A 50-22 by the fly half gave Newport the lineout which was quickly taken and with park asleep they were in again under the posts, 0-14. The Newport tails were up and Park were under pressure in the set piece. Park had some possession but whether it was nerves or a lack of matches the mistakes were coming from all over the park. The Newport fly half was controlling the game with an excellent kicking display always putting Park on the back foot. With Park penalised for a high tackle just outside their 10m line the opportunity was taken to add the points, 0-17. Newport had a driving maul just held up but the pressure was firmly on Park. Park were deemed to be hitting too high in the tackle and another penalty in their half was slotted, 0-20. Park managed to get some points when given a penalty on the Newport 22m line and Lynch slotted it 3-20. Straight from then kick off though Newport regained the ball and with park again tackling high and not putting down the player the Newport centre shrugged off tacklers to score under the posts, 3-27. A good break by Wellington put Park into the Newport half and when penalised Lynch again slotted the penalty, 6-27. Another high tackle put Newport on the attack and after several phases another penalty conceded by Park and the Newport scrum quickly tapped to score next to the posts, 6-34, HT.

Park started he half brightly with good possession from a lineout saw Lynch switch the play with a great burst of speed taking him beyond the defence and then a pass inside found winger Amy-Smith who went in unopposed, 13-34. Park however gave away a penalty allowing Newport to kick deep for a lineout which was finished off with a driving maul over the line to score, 13-39. Park came back into it though with a couple of high tackles being given against them Newport were being marched backwards. Eventually the ball was moved wide and with the last pass from Preston to Amy-Smith outside of the defence allowed him to score in the corner, 18-39. Unable to gather the restart Park put themselves under pressure allowing Newport into their half. There followed a period the where neither side could quite keep control of the ball for a sustained period. Newport however were camped in the Park 22 with a series of scrums but were unable to turn the advantage into points. Eventually the pressure told when after a series of forward carries Newport crashed over near the posts, 18-46. Straight from the kick off though Newport moved the ball quickly and when Park missed tackles in the midfield there was an easy pass to the Newport winger to run in unopposed under the Park posts, 18-53. Newport weren’t quite finished and came back onto the attack, assisted by some Park mistakes and with the last play of the game from a line out in their half ran the ball wide and outstripped the Park defence to score under the posts, 18-60.

Nothing short of a disappointing day for Park but an eye opener for the standard of rugby that lies ahead in this league. The players did not do themselves justice and seemed very much off the pace in most aspects of the game, however two well worked and executed tries showed the ability that is there. Hopefully this will a shot in the arm for the team and a much better performance is expected next week in another tough encounter away at local rivals Wirral.