Hemsworth 20 Old Otliensians 23

OTLIENSIANS moved up to fifth place in Yorkshire Three after winning a disjointed match at sunny Hemsworth on Saturday.

The exchange referee from Staffordshire felt it necessary to have regular and lengthy discussions with both captains, front rows and groups of players which disrupted the flow of the game.

The hosts were quick out of the blocks and controlled play through their heavy pack and speedy backs in the first 15 minutes as they produced a quality of rugby which was out of keeping with their lowly position.

The early onslaught brought its rewards for the home side. They opened the scoring with a penalty before running in a converted try for a 10-0 lead.

Good forward drives from locks Lee O’Donnell and Ali Campbell and No 8 Rob Arbuckle enabled Otliensians to gain a foothold in the game.

Half backs Rob Lofthouse and Ollie Eaves attempted to spread the ball wide, but laboured passing gave the home defence time to snuff out the moves.

Despite the size of the home pack, the Otliensians front row of Peter Bonner, Jim Dyson and Ross Nichols had the edge in the scrums, while flanker Sam Featherstone and lock Campbell earned good line-out ball.

The visitors’ backs began to find their rhythm and winger Declan Jackson joined the line at pace to cut through and score halfway out.

Otliensians’ forwards were now driving and offloading well and a second try came when the ball was moved out to centre Will Prest who beat his opposite number and then showed real pace to weave round several tacklers to score an excellent solo try. Jackson’s conversion put the visitors into the lead.

This produced a strong response from the South Yorkshire side and their efforts paid off with a try under the posts which put them17-12 up.

The response from the visitors was immediate. They controlled the ball from the re-start and worked it upfield. When Lofthouse got the backs moving again Jackson joined the line, but this time he put in an inch-perfect chip to the corner which opposite winger Will Howarth snapped up to make it 17-17 at half-time.

It was to be the last try of the game. Jackson kicked a penalty to edge Otliensians into a 20-17 lead before Hemsworth responded to level the scores.

The game became scrappy with the referee stopping play for periodic chats.

He also ruled that the scrums were unsafe because the veteran prop Bonner was much taller than his Hemsworth opposite number despite this situation having existed without major problems earlier in the match.

The offer of a replacement prop was rejected so the referee decided that the scrums should be uncontested.

Both sides had chances before Jackson struck a long-range penalty to give Otliensians a narrow 23-20 lead. In the closing minutes the visitors began to dominate and had two tries disallowed as they closed out the win.