On the same afternoon that Sutton United were creating their own history with the round ball in the FA Cup with victory against Leeds United, Hunslet Club Parkside of National Conference League Division 1 outfought their semi professional neighbours Hunslet RLFC in an entertaining game at a cold South Leeds Stadium on Sunday, with powerful performances from their big pack of forwards paving the way to a famous victory.
Hunslet Club Parkside – formerly Hunslet Old Boys – were never behind on the scoreboard in an entertaining game played in front of an enthusiastic crowd coming home winners by 19-18. The score if anything flattering the home side, playing in their third pre-season outing, who crossed in the final minute to close the gap to the one point.
Parkside opened the scoring with a well worked early try on 9 minutes. Following strong surges from their props, neat handling saw the ball move out wide for wing Danny Harrison to cross in the corner. Harrison’s effort was brilliantly converted from the touch line by Jamie Fields.
Half way through the first half Hunslet had a great opportunity to level the scores but the final pass went to ground. Both sides were making errors at crucial times but it was Parkside who lengthened their lead to 10-0 on 29 minutes when a pin point cross field kick was acrobatically caught by Craig McShane out wide on the right to score. There was no conversion this time.
On 35 minutes Hunslet RLFC finally made it onto the scoreboard when right wing Marcus Webb crossed out wide, Joe Sanderson adding the extras from the touchline for 10-6 which was how the scoring stayed to half time.
The second half opened much like the first with the amateurs from Hillidge Road extending their lead on 46 minutes when Jamie Fields’ powerful run took him over under the posts. Fields converted his own score to take Parkside into a 16-6 lead. The next score went to Hunslet when Jimmy Watson went over just to the right of the posts following three penalties in quick succession. Sanderson converted to close the gap to just four points at 16-12.
On 71 minutes Danny Harrison was sin-binned for dissent but this didn’t prevent Parkside extending their lead to 18-12 through a Danny Rowse penalty from the 20 metres out. This was soon followed by a drop goal on 78 minutes from the same player for 19-12 to secure the victory. George Flanagan’s trade mark scoot over the line on 80 minutes, converted by Sanderson ensured an exciting finish to the game but was too little too late for the home side.
This scribe’s man of the match was Jamie Fields. A tower of strength for the victors in attack and defense.
Teams:
Hunslet RLFC: Jimmy Watson, Marcus Webb, Jack Norfolk, Mufaro Mvududu, Omar Alwari, Joel Gibson, Joe Sanderson, Lewis Reed, George Flanagan, Jack Coventry, Liam McKay, Anton Wilson, Jack Walton. Subs: Danny Thomas, Brooke Broughton, Nyle Flynn, Matt Carbutt, Ben Blakeston, Brett Whitehead.
Hunslet Club Parkside: Craig McShane, Jake Corney, Dale Harris, Michael Waite, Danny Harrison, Andy Hullock, Danny Rowse, Wayne Foster, Josh Murphy, Luke Pettman, Kieran Murphy, Ben Shulver, Jamie Fields. Subs: Mark Stubley, Ryan Grant, Del Tomlinson, James Healy, Adam Biscomb, Rocky Price.
Referee: N Bennett
This post was written by Phil Goodfield using our Create an article for South Leeds Life page.
