Gash so flash Ellis celebrate
ROSSLYN PARK picked up a bonuspoint win over Plymouth Albion as Arthur Ellis celebrated his 100th appearance for the historic club.
The visitors got the first two scores of the contest through some early set-piece dominance, the first coming from the base of a 5m scrum through Angus Hodges and the second through Harry Wilkinson from a powerful driving maul following a 50-22.
The hosts pulled one back immediately from the restart as a break from star man Jack Gash created space for winger Benji Marfo.
But Plymouth re-established the lead not long after through another powerful driving maul and try for Wilkinson.
Two late first-half Park tries levelled the scores heading into the break.
The first came from Henry Robinson after a Gash tap-and-go and the second was a phenomenal solo score from Josh Amadi as the winger put a kick in behind the defence, regathered and dotted down.
In the second half, some confusion surrounding a possible knock-on meant several of the Park players stopped playing and Jon Dawe scooped up the loose ball and ran it in.
Park again scored from the restart as a Matt Gordon crash-ball saw the centre bust through the defensive line.
The hosts took the lead for the first time when Gash sniped and dived over under the posts.
Plymouth then conceded a succession of penalties that eventually meant captain Herbie Stupple saw yellow.
Despite this, Plymouth held Park out and even grabbed the next score as Connor Eastgate slotted a penalty to make it 31-32.
However, the home side retook the lead just before Stupple was due to return to play when Dan Laventure picked-andwent from the base of the scrum before offloading to Amadi who touched down for his second. A second yellow card was shown to Plymouth with time winding down when Jake Clemson cynically slowed down a Park break and that seemed to have sealed the victory for the home side, with a try for substitute Seb Strang on the last play ensuring it.
Despite promotion now
being out of reach for Park, the importance of the remaining fixtures was highlighted by Ellis when he spoke straight after the match.
The centurion admitted the team are “looking to the future” and he wants the team to “try and put some stuff in place for next year” across the last four matches. He also voiced the hope that the team may be more settled next campaign as the various new signings enter their second season at The Rock.
Ellis also went on to emphasise that it’s not just the chance of promotion that drives the squad to perform.
He stated: “We’ve also got a massive amount of pride, you know.
“We don’t just want to limp out the season and meander through to the end, we want to win every single game.”
This sense of purpose and pride was clearly on display in this weekend’s victory.