Park cage the Bears

A cup run can be the perfect way to give a successful season a final flourish. Whilst the history of Finsbury Park is a short one, its one where successful cup runs have been a consistent feature. With this is in mind and eyes firmly set on a spot in the draw for the second round, Captain Nick Tewson insisted on an early meet time of 12.30 to give us the opportunity to prepare for what would undoubtedly be a tricky fixture. Even at 1pm, when Nick finally showed up, we still had plenty of time to warm up and practice a few lineouts (the same cannot be said for John Startin and pals who showed up with just enough time to lace their boots before kick-off).

Finsbury Park had spent their Thursday night preparing for this fixture with drills played out through the deep mud that has made itself home at Downhills Park. This was a far cry from the pitch that played host to Finsbury Park today. An immaculately kept pitch, although one with significantly less space to allow the backs to run around in than at Downhills.

A small pitch usually means a physical game and the opening 10 minutes certainly agreed. Camped in the Finsbury Park 22, OA’s tested Finsbury Park defensively. However, Finsbury Park met this test and earned the ball in return. Finsbury Park did not waste time in teaching OA’s the value of being clinical in the oppositions 22.

Tewson found touch from a penalty which was taken for a catch and drive, this forced another penalty, taken quickly by the always vigilant Fred Bromley to go over for the first try of the game. 5-0 to the Fins.

When the conversation was missed, Fred volunteered to get over the line again, this time not so close to the corner but again the conversion skewed wide, this time from the boot of Tewson. Never mind, 10-0 isn’t a bad position to be in.

Finsbury Park found their structured forwards play working well only to be let down by silly errors and knock-ons when forcing a pass too many. This kind of waste rarely goes unpunished at the best of times but with Finsbury Park also struggling in the scrums OA’s were able to apply even more pressure.

Having discussed it since with my fellow members of the front row (Fred Bromley and Eamonn Gallagher), we have been unable to pin point an exact cause of the scrummaging struggles, so for now we’ll blame the backs.

Anyway, back to the game. Finsbury Park found ourselves in a position familiar to many that have pulled a shirt on for Finsbury Park, on our own try line preparing to defend another penalty following an unnecessary infringement. A couple of dummy runners and crash ball from their number 8 and they were over the line. Converted. 10-7 Park.

Whilst it’s true that Finsbury Park tried too many offloads and unnecessary passes, it’s also fair to say that some of these offloads came off beautifully. Mine for example. Having already broken the line but been tragically stopped short of a try by their covering flanker my offload to Rhodri looked set to put him in for a try scoring return to Finsbury Park rugby following a lengthy injury break. Unfortunately, I had misjudged the extent to which Rhodri had lost pace in his time off and he was quickly brought down by the backtracking defence – Rhod’s move to front row is looking closer every season. Diligently tidying up Rhod’s mess, I followed up to get over the line myself and with Tewson’s radar still failing him it was 15-7 to Park.

In all, the first half probably deserved more tries. It looked only a matter of time until Adam Brearley bruised his way through the middle of the park and the back three all looked lively to find space given the opportunity. Similarly though it was only due to some seriously solid defence all round that Finsbury Park had not conceded more.

Half Time. 15-7 Park

Following the restart an Old Albanians try looked to cause a bit of concern among the Finsbury Park ranks. Steve Morse’s live action commentary on the WhatsApp chat was met with despair as Finsbury Park’s grip on the game appeared to be weakening. 15-14 Park

Appearances aren’t always what they seem though as Dan Cunningham was quickly on hand to provide relief for Finsbury Park by getting over the line and with Nick finally adding the conversion it was 22-14 the Fins

Next over the line was Tig, and if you were to listen to James Austin’s post-match account of the incident (as this writer was foolish enough to do) then there was no chance he was held up, a ridiculous decision, the ref was miles away, how could he even see it? But the ref’s decision is final and Tig’s try was chalked off. Luckily though Tig’s second row partner, Jonjo (or Jedburgh Zinzan apparently) was able to give him a lesson in how to ground a ball when he took a crash ball through the back line and made it 27-14 and 29-14 to Park when Nick added the extras.

Finsbury Park may not have dominated the scrums but they continued to make good use of their line out dominance as Morgan Carter- Tocny scored the try of the match with a storming run back into the heart of the OA’s forwards. Hardly even stumbling as he covered 40 yards to reach the try line. Making it 34-14 to the Fins with Tewson unable to add the extras following the try by the corner flag.

34-14 was looking a very healthy lead and with just over ten minutes to go Finsbury Park looked set to see the game out and make it through to the next round of the cup. Just need to stay sensible and play structured rugby. Alternatively, Jonjo could pick up a daft yellow card for repeated infringements, collecting his first yellow card and second DOTD of the season.

Finsbury Park is not a 1’s and a 2’s team but one squad with one mentality and one structure. Shin Ando demonstrated this very well in a POTM performance, keeping Finsbury Park tight to the structure which we have been drilling throughout the season. But nowhere is this togetherness better demonstrated than in Finsbury Park’s penalty count. An ability to give away a consistently ridiculous number of penalties has dogged Finsbury Park this season, no matter what the make-up of the side nor the make-up of the opposition. Today was no different and today we were punished, conceding a third try of the day following a series of penalties in our own half. After a period of pressure OA’s eventually decided to give the ball back to their number 8 who had been their go-to crash ball all day and a constant menace all game, collecting a deserved second try. 34-21 to Park

Finsbury Park had really started to feel the pressure once a man down, but Nick’s ball to put through James Austin gave some appreciated breathing space. James decided against thanking Nick for the assist by going under the posts – if anything he went the other way – and left Nick with an unnecessarily tricky kick. One which he duly missed. 39-21 to Park

Although to be fair Nick didn’t bother going under the sticks himself when he made it over the line following an attacking line out a couple of minutes later (itself an immediate response to an OA’s try that had been their reward for constant pressure and Finsbury Park’s punishment for niggling penalties).

Nick’s try brought the match to a close with the scoreline 44-28. Perhaps a generous reflection on a tough game but Finsbury Park march on to round 2.