Our good friends at Old Cooperians may have thought it was odd to find Romford’s faithful celebrating Christmas on February the twelfth, but they were far too polite to say so. They even maintained that some of their number had joined in the Christmas spirit, and tried to navigate their way to Crow Lane following a star. Sadly they were arrested on the Roneo for driving a camel without due care and attention.

Old Coops brought no gifts with them either, with their pacy backs making sure that they beat Park just as comprehensively as they had in the autumn.

The game was played in a stiff southerly wind. We started with ten minutes during which the teams swapped possession, but neither team moved far from half way. Coops then started using the conditions well, with long raking kicks into touch giving them good field positions to attack the Park line.

Their first try came from a missed tackle in midfield, which the Coops backs capitalized on, passing the ball fluently through the hands. 0-7. They should have had a second soon after, but dropped the ball on the line. Old Coops continued to apply pressure though, and the second try soon came as they drew in the Park defence, and burst through the line. 0-12.
Park were having difficulty getting out of their own half. Some solid pick and drive work by the pack was undone by mistakes and missed tackles. Coops continued to use the wind intelligently.

But towards the end of the half, Park used a penalty to make their way into untrodden grass in the opposition half. The pack then drove the ball up to the line, where Barney Savall noticed a gap and touched down. The wind then cruelly bent a penalty round the posts, so the score was 7-12 at half time.

With a strong wind now in our favour, this was a reasonable situation. But Park failed to make use of the conditions in the second half, rarely putting boot to ball. The pack scored two worthy tries, but this good work was undone by the pace of the Coops backs, ripping huge holes in the Park defence. Park’s tackling and positioning were both at fault.
Old Coopers scored early on in the half, when a quick turn of pace created an opening, and the winger scored in the corner. 7-17. Park took advantage of a penalty for dissent to get themselves within five yards of the line, and some patient grunt work on the line was rewarded when governor of the gang Aidan Mersh scored. 12-17. The two sides then traded penalties. 15-20.

The turning point of the game came when Park thought that they had scored from a fine driving maul. They foolishly disputed the decision that the ball had been held up. From the resulting penalty, Coopers made half the pitch. They then drew the ball wide, and a beautifully weighted chip for the backs to run on to again left the Park defence as idle as painted ships. 15-25.

Once again, the Park scrum retained the ball well, with some excellent pick and drive, and carried the ball bodily up the pitch to the Coopers line. Persistence was rewarded when Harry McVelia muscled the ball over the line. A great debut for him. 20-25.

So in the last five minutes, Park were in a position where one of their trademark last minute victories was technically possible. But actually Old Coops made all the play, and always looked the more likely side to score. Finally Park failed to find touch with a clearance kick, and the Coopers backs ran the ball across the pitch to score. To add insult to injury, they even converted the try against the wind. 20-32 full time.

Director of Rugby Steven Barfoot’s comments have had to be redacted due to an ongoing investigation by the South African police into Park’s defence. Their initial report is expected on Tuesday evening.

But still, why did Steve refer to a pony?