|
OLD OTLIENSIANS A 18 – HUDDERSFIELD B 18
After suffering an early-season defeat in the
away match, ‘Ensians knew they would be up against a strong side with a big,
experienced pack. From the start, the visiting forwards dominated the scrums
giving their backs plenty of opportunities and causing problems with untidy
ball for home half backs Pete Boultby and Kristian Keinhorst. A good move
gave Huddersfield a try after only 4 minutes, but ‘Ensians hit back almost
at once with centres Andy Hayward and John Ratahi finding gaps in the
opposition defence. Slick passing put winger Nick Keinhorst away for his
first try on 8 minutes.
With the score at 5 apiece play remained fairly even with both sides having
chances, but it was Nick Keinhorst who beat two defenders and used his pace
to score his second try on 23 minutes. In the difficult wind, the conversion
attempt failed, but the home side had a slender lead at 10 – 5. With
Huddersfield dominating possession, they used their plentiful supply of ball
to drive over as half time approached to level the scores at 10 – 10.
After the break, Huddersfield struggled to make headway against the
elements, but the supply of quality ball meant they were always a threat.
Good drives by locks Andy Wood and James Duggan and props Chris Myers and
Tom Twist took play into the visitors’ half and slick handling put winger
Nick Keinhorst into space to round the cover for his hat trick on 56 minutes
to take the lead at 15 - 10. Fortunately for the home side, the Huddersfield
backs failed to make good use of the plentiful supply of ball from their
powerful pack and several promising moves came unstuck due to poor handling.
With ‘Ensians working hard to stifle attacks, a penalty was conceded and
this was followed soon afterwards by a try from Huddersfield on 66 minutes.
Although the conversion failed, this gave the visitors an 18 – 15 lead as
the end of the match drew closer.
In the final minutes, the visitors battled valiantly to defend their line as
the ‘Ensians backs launched attack after attack to try and snatch back the
lead. With the final whistle imminent, Huddersfield offended and full back
Matt Tenniswood slotted over the penalty on 80 minutes to draw the match.
This close-fought enthralling game was dominated by the ageing but
experienced visiting pack and the lively ‘Ensians backs did well to make the
most of a limited amount of possession
OLD OTLIENSIANS B 27 - WHARFEDALE 5ths 15
On a sunny afternoon with a brisk cross-field
wind, ‘Ensians faced up to a strong, experienced Wharfedale pack which
dominated the scrums from the start. Fortunately for the home side, 1st XV
flanker Tom O’Donnell, making a rare appearance after a long spell of
injury, had an outstanding game and troubled the opposition throughout with
some powerful runs and crunching tackles. Both sides tried to spread the
ball wide and centres Graham Bentley and Lee O’Donnell managed to find gaps
in the Wharfedale defence only to be thwarted by the cover. On 15 minutes,
good interplay between forwards and backs saw lock Sam Gray make a strong
diagonal run from the visitors’ 22 to score halfway out, the conversion
failed.
Wharfedale responded with some robust forward play and set up camp in
‘Ensians half. With untidy ball; from the scrums, home half backs Brett
Tenniswood and Jonathan Woods had their work cut out to clear the line and a
good counter-attack by Wharfedale produced a try under the posts. The
conversion gave them a slender 7 – 5 lead on 22 minutes. Otliensians
responded at once with a telling break by Bentley who offloaded to fellow
centre Lee O’Donnell who carved his way through on 24 minutes. With good
lineout ball from Alan Garnett and Sam Gray, the home backs continued to
mount a series of attacks and young winger Ben Harlow used his pace to round
the cover and score out wide on 32 minutes. This gave ‘Ensians a 15 – 7 lead
coming up to the break.
In the second half, prop Rob Grey suffered a further injury and had to leave
the field. With no ‘Ensian front row replacement, uncontested scrums were
beckoning, but Wharfedale sportingly loaned a prop from their bench to fill
the gap. The early exchanges favoured Wharfedale and their strong pack
tested the home defence. The back row of Mike Ferandino, Alan Garnett and
Tom O’Donnell had to work hard to keep the line clear. An infringement gave
the visitors a penalty on 68 minutes and, with the score at 15 – 10,
Wharfedale threw everything into attack for the next five minutes, trying to
snatch the lead. Good defence by the back three of Richard Cuff, Sean
Flesher and Ben Harlow snuffed out several dangerous moves, but the home
side was under the cosh. Relief came in the form of Tom O’Donnnell who
scooped up a loose ball on half way and blasted his way past several
defenders to score under the posts. The conversion by Ben Newall took the
score to a more comfortable 22- 10 on 73 minutes.
With their confidence restored, ‘Ensians began to move the ball wide and a
thrusting run from Woods set up Lee O’Donnell for his second try. The
visitors came straight back with a clever blind-side move to score in the
corner to take the final score to 27 – 15. In a game where both sides played
lively rugby, the outcome of this entertaining encounter was in doubt until
ten minutes from the end when tries from the O’Donnell brothers clinched a
hard-earned victory.
The 1st XV did not have a match last Saturday, but resume League action
at home to local rivals Roundhegians next Saturday in a crucial
"relegation-zone" encounter.
Reports supplied by John Harrison
|
