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Hornsea 7pts vs Old Otliensians 1stXV 16 pts

Otliensians made the long journey to Hornsea for what has always been a very difficult league fixture, and for the first time came away with a well deserved victory, after a highly committed and skilful display of 15 man rugby.

The first half stated with intense Otliensians pressure, who showed their intent with ferocious scrummaging, where the front row of Bonner, Lyons and Boughan gave a master class, taking the first two balls against the head.

The aggressive play of the whole Otliensians pack proved to be the solid foundation from which the back division launched a series of well constructed attacks, but Hornsea also showed their skill with an excellent sweeping back move covering 50 metres to once again how dangerous they can be. The pressure began to tell and from a scrum infringement Foster opened the scoring with a penalty after 14 minutes. Unfortunately for Otliensians Foster had to leave the fireld of play injured after 22 minutes, but this seemed to spur the pack in to even greater action when a scrum was won on the Otliensians 22, they worked the ball up the left channel before swift hands to the right brought Lee O Donnell on to the ball at pace to leave 3 defenders in his wake for an 8 0 lead on 25 minutes.

Otliensians then produced a series of pick and drives, with quick hands providing another penalty opportunity at 39 minutes, converted by Markus Keinhorst, Otliensians again raced back from the start and finished the half with a superb catch and drive from a 20 metre line out, forcing the Hornsea pack over the line for a 16 0 half time lead.

The second half began with a rejuvenated Hornsea putting together a series of attacks combining backs and forwards, which showed why they will be difficult to beat in the league this year, and but for stoic and well drilled Otliensians defence they would have scored in the first 10 minutes. Otliensians came back strongly, but bagan to be penalised continually and began to lose momentum as the game became thrust and counter thrust.

In the 72nd minute Hornsea eventually broke the Otliensians defence for a well constructed try, but there was to be no denying the quality of this performance, as Otliensians finished the game mounting considerable pressure on the Hornsea line to register a thoroughly deserved victory.
 

Wetherby 0 pts vs Old Otliensians 2ndXV 58pts

For their visit to Wetherby, ‘Ensians were once again faced with uncontested scrums from the outset as the opposition failed to produce a front row. From the start, the home pack drove the ball confidently and camped on the ‘Ensians line for five minutes. Strong tackling from Richard Smith, Tony Myers and Joe Firth kept them at bay and when the ball was cleared, skipper Brett Tenniswood climbed high to produce clean lineout ball.

Half backs Til Leccisotti and Sean Kennedy moved the ball slickly and put winger Darren Cooley away on a fifty yard run cutting the defence to shreds to score a fine try half way out. The conversion failed, but the visiting pack was now imposing itself in the loose and powerful runs by number 8 Phil Cook and locks Smith and Tenniswood set up a second try for Cooley to provide a 10 point lead after ten minutes.

With a plentiful supply of ball, the visiting backs had far too much pace for their opposite numbers and centres Andy Hayward and Andy Bower created an opening for winger Richard Cuff to power his way over near the posts, Kennedy adding the conversion. With both backs and forwards handling and supporting well, further tries came from Hayward and former first team skipper Richard

Smith. As half time approached, a good rolling maul saw Brett Tenniswood emerge smiling from a pile of bodies to claim the score. Ben Newall’s conversion gave the visitors a 34 – 0 lead at the break. 

A few minutes after the re-start, good backing-up by flankers Firth and Newall put Hayward in the clear to score his second try and ten minutes later full back Anand Desai came into the line to set up Cooley for his hat trick. The best try of the match came three minutes later when ten players handled the ball slickly in a move that covered half the length of the pitch to give Brett Tenniswood his second try near the posts. Ben Newall converted to push the lead to 51 – 0. 

In the final minutes, scything runs by Hayward and Bower saw flanker Joe Firth on hand to take the final pass and go over under the posts with Newall’s conversion lifting the score to 58 – 0. Both forwards and backs played their part in this comprehensive and entertaining victory, but some credit must go to the hosts, who, despite being outplayed, never gave up.

Old Otliensians 3rdXV 22 pts vs Nestle Rountree 26 pts

more photos here!

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