Smith secures last-gasp win in thrilling encounter

By RHYS STRATTON

Rosslyn Park….33pts

Tries: Marfo 3, Walker 10, Spencer 23, Penalty try 49, Smith 80 Conversions: Holland 4, 11, 24 Penalties: 0 Drop goals: 0

Bishop’s S……….29pts

Tries: Powell 6, 19, 26, Stannard 66 Conversions: Riddington 7, 20, 27 Penalties: Riddington 38 Drop goals: 0

A STUNNING, lastgasp match-winning try from Joe Luca Smith capped off a thrilling contest at The Rock as Rosslyn Park edged out Bishop’s Stortford to pick up a bonus-point win and continue their perfect start to the season.

Park opened the scoriing with winger Benji Marfo marking his return to the side with an early try as he sliced through the defensive line following a Park setpiece move and cantered in from halfway after three minutes.

The two sides then proceeded to exchange tries, with Park picking up two more through Charlie Walker and man-of-thematch Henry Spencer, and Stortford full-back Dan Powell running in a first-half hat-trick, leaving the scores at 21-apiece.

A Matt Riddington penalty then edged the away side in front a few minutes before half-time.

In the second half, a defensive 5m scrum began a series of unfortunate events for the visitors. Park proceeded to win back-to-back penalties at the scrum which forced the hand of the referee who duly sent loose-head Matt Meek to the sin-bin.

This was followed by a second technical yellow card shown to Will Rogers only two minutes later during a frantic goal-line stand.

Finally, Park were able to get the score they had been seeking as the referee signalled for a penalty try after Bishop’s Stortford again collapsed the scrum. Thirteen-man Stortford held firm despite the numbers disadvantage, narrowly escaping after an Arthur Ellis try was disallowed for an infringement in the build-up.

Once back to their full complement, the visitors got a score against the grain as Josh Stannard finished off a counterattack following a loose Park clearing kick.

Two late misses from the tee by Stortford’s Riddington left the game in the balance at 28-29, and Park were given a final lifeline as they won a penalty on their own 22 with less than a minute to play.

In their haste to presumably prevent Park from getting into kicking range, Bishop’s Stortford narrowed their defence after the line-out, which allowed Park to spread it wide and find a gap that led to a breath-taking race to the line which tryscorer and match-winner Smith won, diving over in the corner.

When asked about his reaction to Bishop’s Stortford almost upsetting Park at home relieved coach John Mills said: “I wouldn’t say it would have been an upset.

“Bishop’s Stortford are a good team. They came here and they ran the ball, and challenged us around the park in different areas than we got challenged last week.

“That’s what you expect in this league.

“Every area of our game has to be top notch to do anything iagainst the opposition that you come up against. You get challenged in different areas each week, so you’ve got to be able to match them and take them on in every aspect.”