Park House RFC VS Bromley RFC

DEFIANT BROMLEY EASE PAST PARK HOUSE

Saturday saw the eagerly anticipated match up between the very local rivals Bromley and Park House, separated by the width of Barnet Wood Road. Bromley had to travel and knew there would be a very warm reception awaiting them in every sense. More injuries and unavailabilities badly affected first and second team selection and consequently the third team fixture had to be cancelled which was a major disappointment. The first team squad that travelled again showed a number of changes from last week and a quite young bench had to be deployed. This was always going to be a tense physical battle and it would be interesting to see how the younger members of the team would front up.

It was a bright, sunny, hot day and the pitch looked in great nick. The Park House team looked like a battle hardened outfit with many experienced players on show. A very large crowd of several hundred turned up to create a vibrant atmosphere and at 3.00pm on the dot the show began. Bromley started off at a rate of knots and had the home side penned back for most of the first fifteen minutes. Hawkins and Griffiths pinged the ball into corners and Park struggled to clear their lines. After four minutes after several darts at the line, Hawkins squeezed over in the left hand corner near the clubhouse. No conversion. Bromley were straight back at it and two catch and drives from lineouts nearly brought further tries but Park defended stoutly and just about repulsed these attacks. Further success for Bromley was missed when the backs broke on the right hand side but number ten Griffiths’ pass did not go to hand hitting a team mate on the head – not his intended target.

So instead of being in double points score wise Bromley were only five points to the good and it was now time for Park House to assert themselves. They drove into the Bromley twenty two and it was Bromley’s turn to defend desperately but in doing so they conceded a number of penalties and Park chose to have a shot at goal from one of those. This was kicked 3-5 after eighteen minutes. The next fifteen minutes or so was an intense dog fight for possession and territory with no real point scoring opportunities. During this passage, Bromley lost prop Carroll to an arm injury leading to Banfield moving to prop and Harding coming off the bench. On thirty three minutes Bromley struggled to contain a Park break out and again gave away penalties in their desperation to stop the attack. This led to Johnny Griffiths being yellow carded for a high tackle and he left the field with the calm composure befitting a ten.

The home team used the man advantage well and surged at the Bromley line on multiple occasions. Bromley’s defence held up but unfortunately, Alex Griffiths, making a terrific try saving tackle, injured himself and had to leave the field of play meaning Bromley had to rejig again. A couple of minutes from the break House deservedly scored a try and with the conversion hitting the post the half time score was 8-5.

Bromley started the second half on the front foot and with four minutes played number ten Griffiths executed a tremendous charge down which was scooped up by Hawkins who thundered off down the field and only some form of illegal defence stopped him and the subsequent penalty was knocked over leaving the scores tied. This had been a great contest so far with both packs going hammer and tongs, an immense physical battle in midfield between Bromley’s Rice and Laws and their opposing centres Tannahill and Harrison. The home teams ten Baker was a real handful as was Bromley full back Hawkins.

On forty six minutes Bromley looked comfortable with a scrum just inside their half but the ball squirted out the side wrongfooting scrum half Powell and Park stole possession and they were away. The ball was moved at speed along their backline and they crashed over in the corner and with the terrific conversion they moved into a 15-8 lead. This was a body blow to Bromley as it came out of nowhere but instead of deflating them they upped their game and took the game to the opposition. On fifty five minutes after constant pressure Banfield, showing remarkable levels of fitness, crashed over but no conversion 15-13. Bromley kept coming leading to more infringing by Park and a yellow card duly followed. On sixty minutes the away side were awarded a lineout about fifteen metres out. This was duly won and the pack rumbled towards the line. The forwards were under the posts and captain Brown, leading by example, crashed over and with the conversion Bromley retook the lead 15-20.

They had one further great opportunity to score when Hawkins made a bish, bash, bosh run up the middle of the pitch drawing the cover and releasing Rice in space with a run into the line but he passed to Brown who was just overhauled. Was it a missed chance or good defence – who knows? With fifteen minutes plus injury time to go and five points separating the sides, it was all to play for.

It seemed inevitable that there was going to be a home team onslaught and roared on by their supporters this duly followed. Wave after wave of attacks by forwards and backs had Bromley’s defence on red alert. Penalties started to flow against Bromley and Harding was yellow carded. In the end, Bromley stopped going into breakdowns as no matter what they did they got penalised. The attacks were ferocious and the defence unbelievable. The Bromley supporters now joined in the fun and roared their boys on as they became more and more defiant. Time ticked by – last play.

Park House forwards had worked themselves into a state of frenzy trying to get over the try line and once more they got possession but this time it was whizzed down the line and one final pass looked like putting one of the Park backs into some space and potentially away. He dropped it, a fine lesson as to why you should always hold the ball in two hands! There is a god and Bromley had the win by the skin of their teeth.

This was a tremendous match played in the best of spirits between two fine sides. If there is a better game in this league this season I would like to see it. The result could have gone either way and the big crowd were totally engrossed the whole time. First team man of the match George Hawkins but they were all heroes on the day.

Over the road, Bromley’s second team came up short by two points against Colfeians losing 17-19 but a really good effort considering selection issues. Their man of the match was Harry Taylor. Hopefully, Carroll and Griffiths can return to action soon and we all wish them well. Next week the firsts are at home to Deal and Betteshangar and the twos travel to Footscray. The threes have a blank Saturday which again is disappointing.