Old Leams leave it late to end Manor's resolve

By Bobby Bridge

A CAR park packed full of vehicles, youth games going on all around and scores of spectators feasting on food and drink out of a spacious clubhouse.

A CAR park packed full of vehicles, youth games going on all around and scores of spectators feasting on food and drink out of a spacious clubhouse.
Old Leamingtonians RFC has become an often-used site by Warwickshire RFU for a reason – their ability to host quality rugby events and attract people to them.
But the spectators had to wait until the final 20 minutes of this encounter to loosen their ties and breathe a little easier as Manor Park produced a Herculean performance.
While their facilities might be worlds apart – Manor Park achieved the same amount of senior teams fielded on Saturday afternoon as their hosts – and were soon ahead on a sun-kissed afternoon on the club’s imposing scoreboard.
Keeping the ball tight from a close range lineout, captain Chris Goode finished strongly in the corner for an unconverted score.
Two converted tries in four minutes threatened to be the precursor for a long afternoon for Park.
But they returned to the same source of their first try with aggressive carries from the forwards culminated in Will Woodward finishing strongly for a try.
Old Leams hit back with another try out wide but Park earned a half-time lead through a moment of inspiration.
Fly-half Callum Bishop sensed the home defence on the blitz and chipped delicately over the top before racing ahead to dot down over the line.
A conversion and a penalty from Chris Morewood saw Park lead 20-19 at the interval.
Goode grabbed his second try, and fourth in two games, to earn park a try-scoring bonus point, soon after the restart as his side made strong inroads through the home defence.
Morewood’s superb conversion gave his side an eight-point lead. But from here, Old Leamingtonians flicked a switch, aided by rampant use of their bench using a sequence of interchanges.
Three yellow cards were waved, two to Old Leams and one to Park, but eventually Park tired under frequent pressure applied from attacks from the three quarters.
Two converted tries either side of a penalty put the hosts 36-27 ahead before a scrambled late try in the last play of the game gave the scoreboard an unreflective take on proceedings.
With only two front-row forwards on the bench at their disposal, Park were perhaps a few pairs of fresh legs short of achieving a special away victory.
They will now be focussng on the thrice rearranged match at Upton-on-Severn this Saturday.