Douglas RUFC draw at Winnington Park

The first of two back-to-back away fixtures saw Douglas Rugby Club travel to Northwich side Winnington Park on Saturday.

The hosts had a slow start to the Regional Two North West season, shipping 50 points in each of their opening three matches, albeit against promotion-fancied sides.

Blake Snell and Simon Hoddinott were notable absentees in the Manx pack, so Cal Dentith and Wilf Kermode switched from the backline to the back-row to do a job for coach Phil Cringle.

Despite the forwards reshuffle, there was some normality to the Douglas three-quarters, with Josh Duncan taking the place of Kermode at centre.

The Port-e-Chee outfit have made a habit of steaming into the opening exchanges for early leads and again scored after eight minutes through a charge-down try from winger Sam McCord. Matty Wood added the extras for 0-7.

Park’s response didn’t look like a team on the backfoot though, testing Douglas through their heavyweight forwards to score two quick tries from flanker Robin Lowndes and massive Australian prop Joel Gaidan.

Both were the result of rapid recycling and number 10 Cameron Flanagan added the conversions for a 14-7 lead.

The visitors were clumsy in attack as handling errors held them back, but when it did click they were ruthless.

Duncan slid a wide pass to the free-running McCord outside who raced along the touchline and dotted down in the corner. The conversion across the wind was missed and Douglas trailed 14-12 at half-time.

The islanders got possession in the second period and a delayed pass from Wood created space which Kyle Martin made the most of. He turned the ball back inside for brother Craig to touch down. Wood added the conversion for 14-19.

Park came again with scrum-half Pethybridge using his piano pushers up front to gain ground.

Douglas conceded two penalties for high tackles, both of which were in sight of the posts, but Park refused the three-point options, opting instead to go for the corner. Each time the decision was justified and tries from lock Harry Todd and centre Williams left Douglas behind at 26-19 after 54 minutes.

Cringle turned to the bench for 55th-minute re-enforcements, with Luke Parry replacing Duncan and Westly Nyman made his debut for Dentith.

Conor Garland’s thumping tackle was penalised in an odd interpretation of current contact laws, but Kudzai Chenda’s superb 57th-minute turnover at last turned the tide.

Kyle Martin’s pace and guile carved out an opportunity, McCord ran over two tacklers for the bonus-point try and Douglas were alive at 26-24.

A penalty apiece took the score to 29-27 as both teams went in search of the clincher. Josh Campbell, Callum Clague and Harry Cartwright got the visitors on the front-foot.

Scrum-half Jonty Shimmin worked the ball wide to the right where Garland made ground with a fend and his beautifully-timed inside pass sent speedster Martin in for his second. The conversion by Wood put Douglas ahead at 29-34 with five minutes remaining.

Debutant Nyman was yellow-carded for denying a quick tap-and-go penalty deep in Manx territory and Park turned the screw by taking the scrum option close to the try line.

The initial burst by the Park back-row tied in defenders, but the visitors’ defence was sound around the fringes and forced Park to throw it wide.

Fullback McCaffery joined the line and winger Dan Davenport squeezed in at the corner with despairing Douglas cover in full contact.

The touchline conversion attempt fell short at 34-34, leaving Douglas with three points on the road and Park breathing a sigh of relief at avoiding four losses in a row with three points of their own.