The Young Lions Put Up a Good Fight.

Several young players were about to have their test against the League Leaders on their own turf .
The initial exchanges were keen and the altered pack did well to contest the set pieces and also competed in the loose forward play . However, after some good combination by the Park backs, and a poor kick from the Lions’ defence to the opposition, a try was scored near the posts and the conversion was added .Then there were two lapses of concentration and slow reaction by the Lions to two tap penalties and the strong Park forwards went over for simple tries . So, after 20 minutes of play, the Home side were leading by 19 points to nil .

The Lions then steadied and the defence reverted to its normal good standard and the game ebbed and flowed , with Martin Robinson kicking a penalty and Park responded in kind . The Half-Time score was 22 – 3 to the Home side .

The Lions started the second half with vigour and the tackling was hard and effective . The pack performed better in the line-outs and some driving mauls took the game well into the Park territory for a sustained period . Eventually, the ball was moved to the Left-Wing, Carl Thatcher, who scorched over for a try, which was sadly not converted .

The Lions took the game firmly to the Home side and came close to scoring a further try . The Park Fly-Half , a South African, kicked a penalty and the Lions responded with one also .

So ended a good game, in which Charlton Park showed their strength and skill in the first half but were put out of their stride in the second half, which was well won by the Lions young side . This bodes well for the future .

Reporter David Storrie