Sandal RUFC continued with their successful run in Regional 1 North East against Percy Park in a high scoring game which produced a total of 98 points, 15 tries and a Sandal 57-41 victory.
Playing with the slope and into the wind it only took Sandal three minutes to post their first try when Will Henshall gathered a loose ball on the half-way line, broke down the wing before handing on to Jake Adams who made no mistake in crossing in the corner. With the conversion missing its target the home side had taken a 5-nil lead. From the resumption Sandal again took a position in the visitors 22 from where Declan Thompson had the opportunity to touch down after nine minutes, Tom Hodson converted to extend his side’s lead to 12-nil. Three minutes later Tom Hodson added a penalty from half way to take the score to 15-nil. Sandal were now in control which was emphasised when Declan Thompson, from just inside the visitors half, received the ball and carved his way through Percy Park’s sloppy defence to score a solo try under the posts. Tom Hodson responded with the conversion and the Sandal lead had increased to 22-nil.
Undeterred, Percy Park strove to put points on the board which they did in the 22nd minute when with the help of three penalties they took a line-out on the Sandal 5 metre line from where they scored a pushover try. The conversion was missed but the deficit had been reduced to 22-5. Now armed with confidence it only took the visitors five more minutes to add to their score with a converted try taking the score to 22-12. Then came a lull in scoring as the game moved towards half time with both sides having scoring opportunities but defences held tight. With the game now playing in stoppage time Sandal moved into their opponents’ territory from where Eden Kelly coasted in to score the side’s bonus point try and with Tom Hodson posting his third conversion Sandal held a comfortable lead of 29-12 at the break.
After two minutes of the second half Percy Park gave notice they were still in the game by making a break up field and after putting a good move together scored their third try to take the score to 36-17. From the resumption Sandal moved into their visitors 5 metre area from where Cam Allen crashed over near the posts enabling Tom Hodson to add the extras to take the score to 36-17. Now with an almost unassailable lead the home side continued to attack such that after 59 minutes a good build up involving a telling break by Mihali Joannou gave Jack Handley the space to cross for a converted try taking the home side’s lead to 43-17 after 59 minutes.
By now storm like conditions with a high wind and torrential rain made play and handling very difficult for both sides. But both persevered with Percy Park receiving a yellow card followed by an Austen Thompson pushover try which Tom Hodson converted taking the score to 50-17 to almost ensure Sandal’s fourth victory of the season with 13 minutes still left on the clock. It was at this point that Sandal relaxed assuming that their lead could not be overtaken but Percy Park had different ideas. After 70 minutes the visitors pushed to the line and posted their bonus point try without a conversion to take the score to 50-22. Encouraged by this score the side increased the pressure and four minutes later added a converted try to reduce Sandal’s lead to 50-29. Fortunately the home side hit back immediately, moved into the visitors’ half from where Cam Allen put in a deft cross kick to find Luke Adams who gathered and scored in the corner. Tom Hodson added the conversion from wide out, his 7th of the game, to take the score to 57-29 and a comfortable win. However, with the foot off the accelerator Sandal were made to pay in the final four minutes of the game when Percy Park ran in two further tries, one of which was converted to take the final score to an unprecedented 57-41 in Sandal’s favour to ensure that they remained 2nd in the league.
The contest provided the crowd with entertainment and whilst losing it is anticipated that Percy Park returned home thinking that they had added to the afternoon’s enjoyment by posting a score which would have won many matches on other occasions.
Written by Howard Newton