Old Otliensians 47 Harrogate Pythons 18
ON a cold afternoon, the fumbles, knocks-on, misdirected passes and countless penalties, could perhaps be excused as the two sides did manage to provide flashes of running rugby which entertained the spectators.
The Otliensians wingers Will Howarth and Declan Jackson posted seven tries between them, Harrogate scored two tries wide out and despite being up against it, were always willing to play some running rugby.
Up front, the home side’s No 8 Matt Taylor was prominent in many areas, not least in the scoring of two tries.
The home side played well and were on top for large parts of the game. Harrogate struggled somewhat, but when on the attack, certainly posed threats.
Otliensians scored first after ten minutes with a try byTaylor coming after a turn-over ball and several phases of pick- and –go. Full back Kristian Keinhorst converted.
Harrogate pressed at the other end of the field, kicked a penalty and then enjoyed a good bounce after a kick ahead to score and convert brilliantly to take the lead at 10-7.
A good run by Taylor saw support from winger Declan Jackson, who went over between the posts and leave Keinhorst with an easy conversion, to give the hosts a half-time lead of 14-10.
For much of the second half, Otliensians were on top, and two well-taken individual tries from Howarth evoked deserved applause. Matt Taylor took another opportunity to go in under the posts and these three tries converted by Keinhorst made the score 35-13 to the home side, the visitors having converted a penalty.
Harrogate, though, suddenly exerted immense pressure after securing good territory. A try wide out was unconverted, but took the score to 35-18.
Otliensians soon returned to playing in the opposition 22 and from two line-outs flanker Sam Featherstone took the ball cleanly off the top and the home threes produced quick-hands to create scoring chances for winger Jackson.
With one conversion hitting the post, Keinhorst finished with six out of seven for a pretty good afternoon’s work.
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