Oakham 13

West Park Bramhope 21

THE progress of West Park into the last eight of the NPI Cup continues after the long haul to Oakham last Saturday.

They now look forward to one of the biggest days in the club's history when they play West Park St Helens in the quarter-finals at the Sycamores on Saturday, February 28.

A sunny but blustery day saw them defeat in the end convincingly a spirited home side superbly controlled by ex-Rotherham scrum-half Steve Worrel.

West Park were at their best to deny the free-flowing rugby of Oakham who have been scoring 40-50 points in most of their games.

The victory came through hard work by the forwards where second row Eugene Grimes had an outstanding game in the line-out and balanced by the remaining forwards who gave Oakham a lesson in the art of fierce rucking and the quick early ball well used by scrum-half Andy Potter, who linked well with his three-quarter line.

When the home side did escape the attentions of the West Park back row the three-quarters showed their worth with superb defence from the centres Bob Collins and Ralph Bennett and winger Peter Lloyd.

Both sides swapped penalties with West Park leading 3-6 through two by Peter Lloyd until the 30th minute when excellent play by the forwards starting deep in their own half took play into the home side's 22.

There the experienced No 8t Ian Moule took his chance well scoring the first try. Peter Lloyd converted from wide out to make the half-time score 6-13.

The second-half saw the forwards again applying the pressure and Lloyd extended the lead to 6-16.

It was not until late in the game that an uncharacteristic mistake in midfield let Oakham into the match with a fairly soft try and conversion to bring the score to 13-16.

The next ten minutes were a pleasure to watch with both sides showing the true spirit of cup rugby and it was West Park who deservedly added to the scoreline with a fine try by wing forward Howard Greenwood in the corner to take the winning score to 13-21.

It was a very good result for West Park who fully deserved the victory. They can now concentrate on gaining some deserved league victories starting this Saturday when they entertain Bridlington.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.