King Cross Park Stun Their Division Three Rivals.....

King Cross Park U15’s v New Earswick U15’s
23rd March 2014

King Cross Park hadn’t had a game for two weeks and were still without several of their squad, when they faced Division 3 side New Earswick in this Yorkshire Cup fixture. The moor was bathed in bright sunshine, but there was a keen breeze for both teams to cope with.

New Earswick began with the slope in their favour and looked to make good use of it, handing the ball to some of their bigger lads. Strong tackling by Tom Metcalfe and Marcus Callaghan let them know they were in a game, but only a poor final pass prevented them scoring early in the corner. Park drove the ball well when in possession, especially Tom Blakely and Matthew Bicknall, but a couple of missed tackles allowed New Earswick to take the lead with a try in the right hand corner. The conversion was missed, but the effect on the home side was good to see. The next 20 minutes saw Billy Dodds and Max Spolverato making their presence felt going forward, with some key tackling from Tom Cockcroft and Adam Taylor as the visitors tried to break out of their own half. Firstly, some good passing put Metcalfe in space on the left wing and he showed good pace to go round the defence and score under the posts. Tom McGregor converted. Four minutes later, Park increased their lead as more good work with the ball in hand put William Sutcliffe over wide left. The visitors were beginning to force passes and from a knock on, Park drove the ball close to allow Callaghan to score, again converted by McGregor. Then, after the impressive Blakely was adjudged to have been held up, the ball was played quickly to the right and Callaghan doubled his tally. In the last minute of the half New Earswick looked certain to score, but a fantastic try saving tackle from Dodds prevented this. However, like Park earlier, they then flung the ball quickly right from the ensuing play the ball and scored in the corner to leave the half time score 20-8 in favour of King Cross Park.

The late try had obviously given the visitors hope and they started the second half with greater passion and enthusiasm. Sadly for them, however, in the first 6 minutes they succumbed to a brace of tries from Spolverato. These were both converted by McGregor to give Park a lead of 32-8. The game, in many ways, was effectively over and in fairness to New Earswick they kept on playing. Park slackened considerably in their defence, and despite playing up the slope, the visitors managed a couple of late tries to leave the score at the final whistle 32-18 in favour of King Cross Park.

A workman like performance (according to one knowledgeable spectator) then from King Cross Park. They should be pleased to have won against a side two divisions higher than themselves, but should be unhappy at again conceding two late tries. Maybe a bit of fitness work beckons for some?