Yorkshire Division Three:

Baildon 5

Old Otliensians 34

DESPITE the forecast, Jenny Lane was bathed in sunshine for the start of this derby between teams that were separated only by two places and five points.

The pitch was sodden but there was no standing water, and the combination of sunshine and light breeze helped to make conditions conducive to attractive rugby.

The visitors played up the slope in the first half and opened the scoring on seven minutes from a scrum just inside the Baildon half.

The ball was moved wide, and full back Alex Murphy joined the line and made good ground before finding winger Chris Westland with an inside pass, fly half Will Cooper finishing off an excellent move in the corner.

The remainder of the first half was a war of attrition, with Baildon trying to prevent a flow of possession to the dangerous Old Otliensians backs, but even so the visitors added a penalty for an 8-0 half-time lead.

Baildon made an excellent start to the second half but were repelled by solid defence, and on 53 minutes Otliensians scored a second long-distance try from just outside their own 22.

Luke Cowdell bust through a tackle and made good ground before releasing wingman Josh Howarth, who outpaced the defence to score wide out, Cooper's excellent conversion giving the visitors what appeared a comfortable 15-0 lead.

However, from the resulting kick-off, Baildon were awarded a scrum and moved the ball to the blindside, creating enough space to score a try.

But, with 20 minutes left, Old Otliensians moved up a gear and scored a third try when Howarth crashed over from short range.

The visitors were then reduced to 14 men when centre Olly Eaves was sin-binned for a technical foul on his opposite number.

Despite being a man down, however, the visitors continued to attack from deep and scored the try of the match when, from inside his own 22, Cooper chipped over the defence for Cowdell to gather, make ground and release Murphy to score under the posts, with the conversion making it 27-5.

To their credit, Baildon continued to throw everything at the visitors' defence but they could not find a way through. Having already secured a bonus point, and with the result no longer in doubt, Old Otliensians added a fifth try when Cowdell exploited an undefended blindside to dance down the touchline and score under the posts, with Cooper added the extras for an emphatic 34-5 win.

Man of the match Cooper scored an impressive 14 points and, despite his tender years, marshalled his back division like a veteran.

Seventh-placed Old Otliensians, who are at home to Castleford on Saturday and are now level on points with sixth-placed Baildon, will take a great deal of confidence from this result and will look to finish the rest of the season on a high.