Leeds Medics & Dentists 29 Old Otliensians 17

THIS wasn’t what the doctor ordered for Old Otliensians as they suffered a defeat which saw them surrender the Yorkshire Three leadership to Northallerton.

The students made the most of superb pitch at Weetwood to extract victory in a game of open rugby.

Otliensians struck the first blow when quick ball from a scrum was moved across the backs to winger Alistair Booth who made the initial break before sending Olly Eaves racing to the line.

The visitors continued to have territorial advantage, but the home defence held firm and when the Medics attacked through their speedy backs, Otliensians had to be on their toes.

The Medics equalised after 25 minutes when they kicked a penalty to touch to secure a line-out in an attacking position.

From the resulting line-out, the ball was passed across the line for the Medics’ winger to score wide out.

A similar move at the other end of the park saw Sam Featherstone win great line-out ball, but the Otliensians were unable to penetrate the home defence.

A yellow card reduced Otliensians to 14 men and the Medics seized their chance. Eaves had already produced one try-saving tackle before the home forward were to crash over between the posts for a converted try.

Worse was to follow when a fine move by the home backs gave them an unconverted try on the stroke of half-time to establish a 17-5 lead.

The second half started with the visitors "upping" their effort by a couple of gears. Matt Taylor and Jack Smith were to the fore as the pack moved play into the Medics 22, but the good work was squandered when a penalty was conceded.

A break by hard-working Luke Cowdell which was followed by a neat kick ahead by Dom Oddy had the home team rocking, but they cleared the danger again.

A home yellow card gave Otliensians impetus and Rob Arbuckle capitalised with a pushover try that was converted by Luke Cowdell.

The Medics were using their speedy backs to great advantage and scored another unconverted try to make it 22-12.

Although their pack had control of the scrums and were creating problems for the home team with some good runs, errors were creeping into the visitors’ play.

They lost line-out ball as the home team became more and more confident in their play and handling.

A try by Otliensians would have put the game in the balance, but it was not to be and when they had battled to within a few yards of the home line the Medics came away with the ball and sprinted the length of the pitch for a great converted try to settle the game.

Otliensians did show their pride by crashing back from the kick-off and soon after Taylor had made good ground with a storming run, Cowdell barged over in the last minute for an unconverted.