Rugby Result: Plymouth Albion 26 Rosslyn Park 20

Spirited comeback but Park unable to convert advantage into points

Park were denied their first win of the season by their inability to convert the pressure of a spirited comeback into points on the board.

Again they made things difficult for themselves with a poor start, conceding two converted tries (the first a penalty try) in the first 15 minutes.

Park’s most effective weapon was a superbly executed rolling maul, which saw hooker Todd Gleave get back a try following a line-out, converted by Harry Leonard. Plymouth re-established their dominance with a try from Cooper just before the half hour.

It was Park who finished the half the stronger. Leonard bagged a penalty and just before the interval Gleave staged a repeat of his earlier effort, again converted by Leonard, for 19-17 at half time.

Park had much more of the play in the second period and Albion began to leak penalties and had two yellow cards. But Park were simply unable to convert their advantage into points.

With less than 10 minutes to go, Wedlake broke up the right for Albion to secure the home side the four-try bonus.

A late penalty by Leonard restored the losing bonus point to Park, who will feel they deserved more. But the answer lay in their own hands.

Park: Robinson; Henderson, Grove, Howley-Berridge,Vincent; Leonard; Weir; Lilley, Gleave, Lovell; Frampton, Milne; Ovens, Harries, Ellis.
Bench: Bellamy, Nwakor, Bowley, Gash, Kohler

Rosslyn Park Forwards Coach, Kieran Power said, “We felt that we really took the game to Plymouth today with a style of rugby that we have been looking to produce in the last couple of weeks.

“Unfortunately whilst doing that we took our eyes off of other certain aspects of our game that had been functioning well previously, but came unstuck today and gave Plymouth a strong advantage that we couldn't come back from”.

Looking towards next Saturday - Park’s third away game in their first four matches - he said, “Old Albanians will be a side who like to run the ball but we will have to eliminate the errors we made today to have a chance of controlling the game and the result”.

Park finally return to the Rock on Saturday 1 October, against Darlington Mowden Park, kicking off at 3:00PM.

Shaun Justice

September 19, 2016