Worms v West Park Bramhope 280106 Knottingley 2nds 40 West Park Bramhope 2nds 5
Knottingley emerged worthy winners in this merit table clash with both sides playing enterprising rugby.
After an evenly fought initial period, Knottingley went ahead by a well taken try from scrum half John Hart, who broke through the cover in the opponents 22 following sterling mauling from the forwards. Fox landed the conversion.
Within 5 minutes Knottingley went further ahead when skipper ChrisWalsh finished off a fine move started in their own 22 by standoff Sean Jowett, whose break saw him pass to winger Adam Baxter who went on a 40 yard run before slipping the final pass to Walsh. Again converted.
From the restart, Sean Jowett received the ball deep in his own half, only to pass to fullback Fox who broke through and ran 60 yards for a try, again converted.
West Park continued to press but just before half time, Baxter made an initial break from his 22, which was mauled forward by the forwards before Walsh released Mark Sutcliffe to run in unchecked from 20 yards, bringing the half time score to 26-0.
Knottingley resumed attacking the West Park line, and were a little fortunate when a penalty against them on the visitors 5 yard line was reversed for dissention, giving them the opportunity for a quick tap by Walsh to feed Fox, who in turn gave the final pass to Liam Bradley to score under the posts. Again converted.
West Park were stung into action and following the restart and some excellent mauling, were rewarded with a try by centre Ralph Gri. They continued with territorial advantage but were unable to convert pressure into points, the Knottingley defence holding firm. Knottingley were gaining much of the visitors ball in the set pieces, hooker Rory Haigh having an excellent strike rate against the head, ably assisted by props Graham Harrington and John Lawrence.
Following an even period of play, the final score went to Knottingley when fine rolling mauling by the forwards saw Hart break through to pass to Bradly from whom Fox received a scoring pass, which he again converted for the final score 40-5.
Special mention must go to locks Steve Taylor and Matthew Lunt whose work in the loose helped provide the platform for the backs to exploit. | | |
