Rosslyn Park 26 Cornish All Blacks 18 (From Croydon Guardian)

Rosslyn Park 26 Cornish All Blacks 18

9:56am Monday 6th September 2010 in

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This match, against last season’s third-placed club, may not have determined Park’s exact place in the National One hierarchy, but showed that they belong at this level, and that when they find their feet they should be capable of troubling anyone.

They had the worst possible start, with Harry Rowlands incurring a suspected broken arm as early as the third minute.

With no back row ‘specialist’ on the bench, lock Steve Pape came on and did a good job. When Jonny Barrett then had to temporarily leave the fray with a blood injury, replaced by hooker Ben Gotting, it looked as if it might not be Park’s day.

The men from Launceston were fired-up from the start and were the better side in the early exchanges. Their hunger for the ball, and tough tackling centres, yielded more 50:50 balls than Park would be comfortable with as they established an early edge in midfield.

Park had some early moments, but it was no real surprise when winger visiting Ben Turner got over in the corner, following a powerful break by centre Nonu, to give the visitors a 5-0 lead inside 10 minutes.

Park dug deep and gradually established a foothold in the match, then began to get marginally the better of exchanges. A long range penalty from Ross Laidlaw hit the far post, after which his kicking was faultless.

If Park deserved a score, then the manner of its coming was in itself more than a tad fortunate. A Park kick to the visiting defence would have registered in the ‘pointless’ category had its recipient not made a complete horlicks of things and thumped the ball straight into the advancing Joe Launchbury, who then won the race to touch it down.

Laidlaw’s conversion put the home side ahead after 20 minutes, a lead they never relinquished.

Park were by now having the better of things. Amo Tauialo went on a rampaging run that might have borne fruit but for a knock on.

The Cornishmen defended superbly and, when turning over possession still looked dangerous enough on the counter that Park could not afford to commit to all out attack.

When the visitors tried to pass along the line near their own posts they were skilfully closed down until yielding a penalty for Laidlaw to make it 10-5.

The visitors countered with a good attack of their own, which yielded an eminently kickable penalty that was wasted with a complete mis-kick that slewed into a defender, never reaching even shoulder height.

Park returned to the attack and Laidlaw showed how it was done to make it 13-5.

The defending from both sides was of such a high standard that this was never going to be end-to-end stuff, but it was certainly an enthralling contest. The referee was certainly enjoying it enough to allow plenty of additional time.

After some solid pressure, which was brilliantly defended, the visitors opted to kick a penalty - recorded as on 40 minutes but actually 48 minutes after kick off – to bring half time at 13-8.

Rosslyn Park made a dream start to the second half, kicking off to the All-Blacks’ right corner. An attempted clearance kick was parried by Howard Quigley, who beat the defence to touch down by the corner flag.

Laidlaw nailed the ‘impossible’ conversion to give his side a 20-8 margin.

The Launceston side tried to get back but were met with relentless tackling. However, when John Rudd nailed an opponent with a cracking ‘hit’ and then dumped him, visiting players saw red and a punch-up ensued. Rudd was yellow-carded, along with visiting lock Ben Hilton.

Play restarted with a penalty to Park, but the home side were by now conceding too many penalties for technical offences whilst under pressure.

They escaped when a good attacking penalty was aimed for the corner but went dead, but at the next offence Pape was shown yellow and Roberts reduced the arrears to 20-11.

Thirteen-man Park responded admirably, attack being the best means of defence in such circumstances, gained a penalty and Laidlaw restored the margin at 23-11.

When the fly half struck again to make it 26-11 the match looked all over.

However, two minutes into added time the All-Blacks got over by the posts but the conversion failed to give them the bonus point that they possibly deserved on the overall balance of play.

The match continued for a further 7 minutes, the final period a concerted visiting attack, but when Park finally got their hands on the ball they wasted no time before hammering it into touch to claim a hard-earned but deserved victory.

Park: Davies; Lyndsey-Hague, Sweeney, Gower (Lewis), Rudd; Laidlaw; Baxter; Huggett, Tauialo (Gotting), Collier (Mines); Quigley, Launchbury; Rowland (Pape), Barrett (Gotting, blood), Lock Sub (not playing): Lapidus.

Park scorers: Launchbury (T), Quigley (T), Laidlaw (4P, 2C).