Hunslet Club Parkside 38-12 Pilkington Recs
A convincing 38–12 Round 6 victory over Pilkington Recs yesterday (Saturday 9 April 2022) saw Hunslet Club Parkside break their win / lose / win / lose / win sequence of the first five rounds of the 2022 NCL Premier Division season with a second consecutive victory. It felt good to be at home again after three rounds on the road and the team celebrated with a fine performance across the board in the south Leeds sunshine, wind, rain and cold – take your pick with all four seasons featuring throughout the 80 minutes!
The big off the pitch news came in the match programme notes where Club Secretary Paul Thorpe announced that head coach for the past seven years Paul McShane has “stood down to spend more time with his young family” – at the same time passing on his own and everyone at the club’s thanks for all Paul’s hard work over the years and adding that “Sam Thorpe (head coach) will be re-joined by Martin Rowse… and they will continue to work closely with Carl Briggs and Tom Saunders.”
On the pitch Parkside made their customary good start to the game with a try on just three minutes, Omar Alrawi breaking through from half way and beating all the Pilkington Recs defence to cross under the posts. Danny Rowse converted for an early 6 – 0 lead. The next 20 was a period of missed chances for the home side, full back Craig McShane prominent in attack in another Player of the Match performance and right wing Will Cohen going close.
Against the run of play the visitors were the next scorers going in under the posts from a smart defense splitting kick. The next two tries went to Hunslet with Cohen and Rowse crossing – Cohen in the corner following some neat passing from left to right and Rowse on the end of a smart run around move to touch down under the posts. Rowse added the extras to his score for a 16-6 half time lead.
In a dominant second half the Old Boys crossed for four good tries through Dewi Bellingham, Ben Shulver, Omar Alrawi and Craig McShane. Bellingham ran a smart line on 51’ to take the returning Jamie Bradley’s short pass for the first followed a couple of minutes later by a powerful run by Shulver reaching out to score. Alrawi scored his second of the match diving over on the left flank and McShane topped off another good performance in both attack and defense with a try – Rowse converting three of the scores. Although well beaten in all department the visitors never gave up and brought the scoring to an end with a consolation try on 77’.
Skipper Ben Shulver was delighted with the performance and the win:
“That was a great win, not only that a good 80 minutes performance is what we were looking for and that’s what we got. I’m confident now we can kick on from this and start putting in more clinical performances. It was massive having Jamie Bradley back playing for us and directing us around the park”.
With no game on Easter weekend the Old Boys will be back in action on Saturday 23 April away to York Acorn, kick off is at 2.30pm.
The Teams:
Hunslet Club Parkside: Craig McShane, Will Cohen, Kieran Murphy, Michael Waite, Omar Alrawi, Andy Hullock, Danny Rowse, Elliot Morgan, Casey Canterbury, Jack McShane, Ben Shulver (c), Liam Thompson, Kieran Webster. Subs: Connor Squires, Dewi Bellingham, Jamie Bradley, Danny Lidbury.
Tries: Alrawi (3’, 59’), Cohen (29’), Rowse (33’), Billingham (51’), Shulver (53’), McShane (66’). Goals: Rowse (5).
Pilkington Recs: Owain Abel, Lewis Caine, Luke Riley, Mike Houghton, Stuart Simmons, Kyran Knapper, Ryan Stevens, Johatha Key, Phil Riley, Andy Morris, Jordan Morris, Ben O’Donnell, Ryan Lockett. Subs: Matt Foreman, Joe Pilkington, Jamie Pye, Chris Clayton.
Tries: Abel (24’), Andy Morris (77’). Goals: Knapper (2).
This post was written by Phil Goodfield
Photo: Hunslet Club Parkside in action against Stanningley 30 January 2022 by Paul Johnson Phoenix Photography
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