Old Otliensians 43 Mosborough 7

Winger Declan Jackson scored his second-successive hat-trick of tries as Otliensians brushed aside a team that have given them problems in the past.

The victory strengthened their hold on top spot in Yorkshire Division Four and was achieved with another good all-round performance.

In the scrums the home front row of Tony Myers, Jim Dyson and Ross Myers found it hard going and, although they generally managed to secure their own ball, possession was untidy.

With the scrum weaving around, life was difficult for half backs Rob Lofthouse and Luke Freer, but when they did manage to get the ball away it was clear that the home backs had a clear edge on their opponents.

Locks Jack Smith and Ali Campbell and flanker Sam Featherstone were obtaining quality line-out ball and winger Callum Doherty went close with a strong run before the ball was spun across the field for winger Jackson to race in at the corner.

The visitors responded with a spell of pressure which resulted in them going ahead with a converted try. With a good supply of line-out ball, the home pack continued to blast away at the line until No. 8 Rob Arbuckle forced his way over halfway out.

The pace and elusiveness of the home backs continued to cause big problems for the visitors and slick passing saw centre Luke Cowdell spot a gap and race clear to score near the posts. The conversion by Kristian Keinhorst stretched the lead to 17-7 at half time.

Prop Ross Nicholls and hooker Alex Albrecht came on after the break and, with the wind now in their favour, the home side were soon back on the attack.

To Mosborough’s credit, they stuck at their task and it was 65 minutes before No.8 Lee O’Donnell produced one of his forceful runs to score under the posts.

Replacement full back Ben Hatton added the conversion to move the score to 24-7.

Despite an injury to hard-tackling centre Nathan Rogers, the pressure was relentless.

Cowdell put pacy winger Jackson away for two more tries and Hatton added the extras for a 38-7 lead after 76 minutes. The icing was put on the cake when a slick line-out move from Featherstone put O’Donnell away down the touchline for the final try to make it 43-7.

Otliensians showed good character to recover from going behind early on to run in seven tries.

Now they face a stiff challenge on Saturday when they are at home to the much-improved Leeds Corinthians.