Park 17 - 18 Caldy

CALDY extended their advantage at the top of National 1 with a single point victory away at title rivals Rosslyn Park on Saturday.

The game started well for the visitors taking the lead after just five minutes when Nick Royle latched on to a fantastic chip from Elliot Gourlay to score in the corner.

Caldy extended their lead moments later thanks to a penalty from Ezra Hinchcliffe, deputising on kicking duty for the injured Ben Jones, to give Caldy a deserved eight-point advantage.

Rosslyn came more into the game in the second quarter but the Caldy defence stood firm until eight minutes before the break when Arthur Ellis was able to score after a good line out with the extras bringing the hosts within a point.

Rosslyn came out firing in the second half looking to catch Caldy on the counter attack and the game got tense, when Rosslyn’s Benji Marfo saw red for an elbow on Caldy’s Nathan Rushton who saw yellow for retaliation.

Being reduced to 14 men galvanised the home side as, on 52 minutes, Henry Spencer was able to flip the ball to Craig Holland who scored under the posts to the delight of the home supporters.

When Rushton returned, Caldy set about taking advantage of the extra man, pressurising the Rosslyn backline and playing good flowing rugby.

They were rewarded just after the hour following a good phase of passes which saw Mike Cartmill slide in under the posts.

The final 20 minutes saw a lot of attacking play from both sides, knowing how vital victory for either side would be.

A disallowed try for Caldy due to a forward pass in the build up was unfortunate but ended up not being vital.

Victory was Caldy's 14th in a row and could turn out to be the most important of the season with three tough matches before the end of April.

The end of the match saw wild celebrations from the travelling supporters joined by the players.

The Ravers nearest challengers are now Sale FC who beat Cinderford on Saturday.