| Rosslyn Park 24 - Dings Crusaders 17 |
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Dings Crusaders RFC National League Two South Saturday 20th February 2010 Rosslyn Park 24 - Dings Crusaders 17 DINGS CRUSADERSsecured a loosing bonus point in this entertaining clash with third placed Rosslyn Park at Rockhampton but could have easily returned to Bristol with more had they not given away a string of first half penalties. Eagerness in defence cost Crusaders dearly as they were constantly penalised by former Super League referee Karl Kirkpatrick at the breakdown for off side offences, which ultimately cost them the match. Dings produced a much-improved performance from their mediocre effort against Bridgwater last week, out scoring their rivals by three tries to two. But they are still in search of their first victory in London this season as their ‘Capital punishment’ continues. The game was there for the taking and they must surely feel that this was the one that got away. Coach James Farndon said: "We are happy to get the bonus point but, had our core skills been a bit better, we might have come away with more. A few loose passes and the odd poor decision let us down. We made far too many mistakes in the first half and their kicker made us pay for those errors. But that was a much better display and we can build on this going forward." Park opened the scoring within the opening two minutes with a penalty from their impressive fly-half Ross Laidlaw who punished the visitors when they crept off-side at a ruck. Laidlaw struck again for Park before Dings opened up the home defence in the 19th minute with a delightful move involving fly-half Neil Dipple and wing George Watkins. The winger was tackled in the 22 but popped the ball up to supporting hooker Ollie Hayes who didn’t quite have enough gas to make it to the try-line and was hauled down agonizingly short. The Dings pack re-cycled the ball and battered away at the try-line before they switched tactics - moving the ball to centre Sam Caven who dived over to score an unconverted try. However, the Bristol side continued to fall foul of the referee and conceded two further penalty scores to trail 12-5 at the interval. Park tried to play a high tempo game but the visitors were up to the task in defence with back row trio of Pierre Panizzutti, Stean Williams and Gavin Curry policing the fringes well while centres Tim Bagg and Caven formed a solid mid-field partnership for Dings. The Londoners crossed for their first try after 59 minutes but the referee had to consult his touch judge before awarding James Strong’s controversial effort after the winger appeared to have gone out of play in the act of scoring. Back came Dings with a barnstorming effort from Bagg who crashed over beneath the posts after his determined charge and fierce hand-off enabled him to shake off his marker to grab Crusaders second try. Replacement Stand-off Tom Lukjaniec converted. Dings were caught napping by Park in the 73rdminute, conceded a soft converted try by centre Ross Smale that took Park into a 24-12 lead with eight minutes remaining. But Ding responded yet again when replacement prop James Curry rumbled over following a tap-penalty during the last play of the game to ensure that the visitors traveled back along the M4 with a well-deserved bonus point. |
