U11's miss out at the Land Rover Cup

A well organised Land Rover Cup was held on Sunday with teams competing to represent the Newcastle Falcons at Twickenham for the Guiness Premiership final. The Flying Foxes were drawn in a group that included our old rivals Northern and although they couldn't progress from the group stages they only conceded two tries in four games.

A single well worked try by Jack was enough to get Park off to a winning start in the Land Rover Cup tournament. Park had worked an earlier overlap during the first half and when a second opportunity came along the right flank they took it. Two Tags carried the ball deep into Middlesbrough territory before producing the perfect pass to set Jack on his way, the winger jinking inside an opponent before sprinting for the line. In the latter stages of the half Middlesbrough threatened on  Park's left flank but the move came to a crashing halt when Luke F. bought down a much bigger opponent to prevent a try. Park were subject to tremendous pressure for the majority of the second half and the siege was finally relieved by a massive punt down field by Niall.

Park 0, Carlisle 7.

In a strange game in which little rugby was played Park failed to deal with Carlisle's one and only attack and lost: the defeat proving to be costly in the scheme of things. Park looked dangerous from the start and from a scrum win a flowing move concluded with Two Tags going over. However, the try was disallowed because of a blatant hand off. Alex then rumbled up the right win after a line out with the rest of the pack providing additional muscle. Park's physicality was proving too much for some Carlisle players and another attack was prematurely ended because of an injury. It was to be the first of three lengthy stoppages. When play got started again Will threatened after coming in off the left flank but again the referee's whistle halted play as another Carlisle player was lying on the ground hurt. The second half began with Park winning a scrum against the head and then charging deep into Carlisle territory.  Frustratingly the referee's whistle stopped the attack as a third Carlisle player was injured. After a long pause, a dubious decision gave Carlisle a penalty inside Park's half from which they ran the ball and scored, the referee missing the try scorer handing off a defender before he crossed. The hooter sounded shortly after the successful conversion attempt. It was surprising to see after the match a father, whose son plays for Northern, approach the referee and ask why he hadn't played any injury time - the referee made his apologies for the lack of rugby played as the timekeeping was down to the event organisers and not the match officials. Carlisle were to go into the semi-finals as the best runners up which left a sour taste with some spectators on the basis that the game had effectively been killed by the lengthy injury breaks.

Park 34, Tynedale B 0.

Park took out their frustrations on Tynedale B, with Two Tags going over for three of the six tries scored. The ball quickly went to the right from a solid scrum to Two Tags to gallop over for the opening score. It became 10-0 when Alex grabbed the ball in a line out and barged over and soon afterwards Park went further ahead when Ross dived over from a tap penalty. After failing with their first two conversion attempts, it was third time lucky for Niall. The second half opened with Luke F. delivering a lovely pass for Two Tags to take in his stride and race away for the fourth try. Two Tags was then put in the clear again and showed everyone a muddy pair of heels to increase the score line to 27-0. A long pass by Alex set Jack racing away for Park's final try to which Niall added a further two points with a successful kick.

Park 0, Northern 7.

Despite having the lion's share of possession and a far greater territorial advantage, Park couldn't capitalise on their first half dominance and paid for it. In  a must win game Park put in some big tackles at the beginning  and forced Northern back deep inside their own half. A high tackle on Luke F. gave Park a close range penalty opportunity but the referee ruled that the tap start had been done incorrectly - technically the correct decision but perhaps a bit pedantic. Northern's defensive qualities continued to be given a through examination but Park, who wasted a second penalty opportunity by not reacting quick enough, couldn't break through. Put under pressure from the start of the second half, Park thought they had relieved the pressure with a huge up field kick but the referee ruled that the whole team was offside and bought play back. From then on  Park found themselves with little ground to defend and Northern's scrum half couldn't be stopped. He picked the ball up from the back of a scrum, quickly realised there was space to his right and darted over for a well taken opportunistic try that was converted.