After last week’s dust bowl, Romford’s faithful were relieved to see blades of grass growing on our pitch. The green stuff is a credit to all the work that Steve Ellis has put in – without much rain over the summer to help him.

Not that the change of surface did any good to Park’s players, who went down to another unnecessarily heavy defeat to our neighbours Campion. Looking for positives from this performance, well, Tony Healy ran the line in great style. And of course hope springs eternal for next week.

Getting our excuses in early, Park took to the pitch with a side missing several experienced players. This really showed in the first half, as Campion took advantage of disjointed play and some basic errors. The first try came when Park lost the ball in a ruck, and the excellent Campion left wing kicked ahead, and took advantage of a bobbling ball. A second soon followed, gifted by an overthrown line out. 0-10.

At some point I am sure I saw Kieran Bradley on the pitch, but the next minute he was gone. It must have been a ghost. I had another sighting later when the ghost was holding his calf in pain on the side of the pitch. Mind, the real Kieran Bradley used to do that too.
Park recovered to pull one back when Elliot Collier took a quick penalty and found a hole in the Campion defence. Luke Izatt followed up well to score. 7-10. However, Campion were not done, and scored another try down the left wing, and a penalty before half time, leaving the score at 7-20.

Most of the Campion tries should not have happened. It is equally disappointing that Park had plenty of good field position in the first half, but squandered it by poor handling in the backs, and a lack of composure by the pack on the line. We even failed to take advantage when the Campion 6 was binned. To be fair, Campion’s defence was well organized and solid.

I can imagine what was said by the Park coaches at half time, so I won’t create difficulties for our website by printing it. Anyway, it had some effect because in the second half the Park pack stuck solidly to the agreed playing pattern, and slowly rolled the scoreline back. Teddy Duke, looking like an extra from Pirates of the Caribbean after last week’s on pitch surgery, did a lot of damage. I have no idea who scored our second try as it was one of Park’s trademark efforts, with black and purple bodies all over the floor after five minutes on the Campion line. 12-20.

Meanwhile, Jack Rickwood on debut had been giving thought to scoring a try. He decided that the muscle, i.e. himself, should be where the Opposition muscle was not. At the time, this was under the posts, because all the Campion pack were enjoying themselves in an unsightly pile with the Romford pack on the right wing. So, when the ball came out, he duly crashed over to score. Top thinking, Jack. And 19-20.

When the Grey Wolf stole the ball to win a penalty on the Campion 22, and George Smith put the penalty over, Park took the lead for the first time with less than ten minutes on the clock. Romford’s faithful may foolishly have believed they were watching a solid, if uninspiring, recovery from a poor first half. But an inexperienced side now completely lost their presence of mind. All that was required was to stick the ball up the proverbial jumper and wind down the clock. But a combination of ill-judged kicks and poor tackling threw the game away. Campion gratefully took advantage, and silenced the home crowd by scored three wonderful tries, to run away deserved winners 22-39.

Cornered by hundreds of baying reporters after the game, coach Mitchell Smith denied that Park’s poor performance was responsible for his return to his native South Africa. He affably noted the good points from Park’s performance and then said he needed a beer. In the circumstances, he might reasonably have called for something stronger. Joe Blades went off to get the coach’s beer. That young man will go far – but not until his ankle is healed.

This was indeed Mitch’s last game as coach. It seems no time since he was playing – though it is true that he spent most of his playing time on the side after being sent off for some harmless piece of brutality. We wish you and your family all the best in South Africa, Mitch, and there will always be one on the bar for you at Crow Lane.