Newly-promoted Rosslyn Park went down 31-19 in a stop-start affair against another side who moved up into National One last season, by Donald Yule.

Neither outfit produced much quality to reflect their position in the top half of the table.

Park’s Richard Davies, thrust into the goal kicking role in the continued absence of points machine Ross Laidlaw, opened the scoring in the 10th minute only to have his effort matched two minutes later by Adam Armstrong.

The process was then repeated so that the first quarter ended with the scores tied at 6-6.

Park’s Jonny Barrett then received a yellow card and whilst apparently cogitating on that, were not alert to a cross kicked penalty which saw the visitors’ Nico Fraser cross in the left corner for an opportunist try which remained unconverted.

The valiant Davies pulled things back to 9-11 but Fraser was back in action again, breaking tackles in a move which saw flanker James Ngan round under the post for a seven point score.

Half-time’s 18-9 deficit was quickly stretched after an off the ball incident saw Charlie Gower yellow carded and further punishment inflicted by an Armstrong penalty.

At that point, Park began to look a little more like last season’s side when the backs, where Davies was the only survivor of the effective combination which brought Park into the higher level, stared to gel.

A fourth Davies penalty was followed by positive re-cycling which resulted in Chris Lewis darting in to raise Park’s hopes at 19-21.

Alas for the home side’s hopes, an incremental red card for Barrett made their job a hard one, winger David Vincent going over with minutes to go and then, with the scoreboard clock showing only seconds, a turn over saw Nico Fraser bring up the bonus point for the visitors.

Muttering over their pints in the Obolensky Bar, Park’s old stagers, accustomed in recent years to the ebb and flow of fortune at Roehampton, were reminding themselves of their gloomy consensus in August that their club would do well to come out of September with a single win.

That their team has doubled that best case scenario with a fearsome list of unavailabilities, suggests a depth of talent which would be the envy of many clubs but the incidence of detected indiscipline which resulted in Park playing nearly 30 minutes of the match a man short is something which surely can be attended to.

On the other hand, Barking - whose recent troubles have mostly been off the field - now find themselves with an unbeaten record and second place in the table, so would seem to have justified their pre-season hopes and have all the ammunition needed for a successful campaign at this level. However there is a long road ahead - in both metaphorical and physical senses for both clubs.

Rosslyn Park: Nev Edwards; Steve Parsons, Charlie Gower, Chris Lewis, John Rudd; Richard Davies, Mike Baxter (Rep. Jonah Holmes); Nick Huggett (Steve Millard), Amo Tauialo (Ben Gotting), Oliver Mines, Steve Pape, Russ Forster, Morgan Cross, Jonny Barrett, Mark Lock (Capt.) Scorer: Tries: Lewis (63). Cons: Davies (63) Penalties: Davies (8,21, 45,56)