Rosslyn Park 28 Richmond 15
Fly-half Tom Whelan’s inspired display helped Rosslyn Park overcome their fierce local rivals Richmond at the Rock and keep the pace with National League 1 leaders Ealing Trailfinders.
Second-half sin-binnings for Richmond’s locks Chris Davies and Will Warden proved crucial as Park captain Hugo Ellis and centre Mark Ireland scored decisive tries.
Richmond had taken advantage of playing with the wind in the first-half to deservedly lead 12-10 at the break, tries from flankers Simon Ackroyd and Tom Shaw edging the lone Park try by Sam Shires.
Park were far stronger after half-time, and their sixth win in a row sees them in second place in the league ahead of next week’s trip to bottom side Macclesfield, winless so far this season.
FT: @rosslynpark 28-15 @RichmondFC1861. Passionate derby & Park take spoils. Shires, Ellis & Ireland with tries; Whelan 13 points from boot.
— Rosslyn Park (@rosslynpark) November 1, 2014
With a strong Iron Maiden presence due to the launch of their Trooper beer as Park’s new official ale, the game had a suitably abrasive and physical edge to it from the start.
After dominating the early exchanges Richmond took a deserved lead after 16 minutes with a fine try for Ackroyd, full-back Rob Kirby making the decisive break before offloading, though he missed the conversion.
Minutes later a moment of sheer class from Whelan finally sparked Park into life, the fly-half stepping his man brilliantly on half-way and breaking to the 22 before a sumptuous offload allowed the ball to be spun right where Shires easily cantered in.
With a strong Iron Maiden presence due to the launch of their Trooper beer as Park’s new official ale, the game had a suitably abrasive and physical edge to it from the start.
Richmond went close to a legendary score of their own, a length of the pitch effort involving wingers Will Browne and Adam Gadsby, whose great offload to fly-half Andy Hall almost saw Ackroyd cross for a second.
On 30 minutes Richmond did claim their second try, poor guard defence from Park allowing Davies to surge to the five-metre line, and from the resultant penalty scrum-half Jamie Gibbs tapped quickly to feed Shaw to go under the posts.
A surging run from Park’s Mike McFarlane almost saw another memorable try after the break, the flanker bursting from well inside his own half to surge 70 metres upfield, only just hauled down on the line.
As Park desperately dug for quick possession at the ruck Davies killed the ball and was rightly binned, the card proving costly as Ellis easily scored off the back of an advancing scrum, the number eight’s ninth try this season.
Whelan, having converted both tries and added three penalties, once again showed his inspired form to secure the game for Park after 68 minutes, with Richmond again down to 14 men following Warden’s yellow card.
Taking possession on half-way, he spotted and exploited a dog-leg in defence, and his fine half-break and offload gave Ireland an unopposed run in to seal an absorbing high-quality derby.
