Injury hit Otliensians disappoint (From Wharfedale Observer)

Injury hit Otliensians disappoint

5:40pm Wednesday 2nd December 2009

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Otliensians 13 Thornensians 19

Otliensians, who had a growing injury list, entertained Thornensians and had to call upon Gilson and Ball, who was making his first team debut.

James Holland was also absent from the team after being called up to play for Yorkshire Under-19s. South Yorkshire opponents Thornensians have had an inconsistent season so far, very much like Otliensians.

Otliensians started the brighter of the two and, for the first 20 minutes, had Thornensians pinned in their 22. The hosts were given numerous penalties and Simon Grey was able to convert one of these after 15 minutes.

Otliensians were also unlucky not to be given a try when the referee deemed the grounding of the ball was incorrect.

The hosts continued to press but, due to combined errors by their backs, they were not able to capitalise. Thornensians responded by slowly edging further downfield through the kicking of their fly-half.

Grey was sin-binned on 38 minutes for a needless challenge, and Gilson replaced Hugh Gumbs after the player-coach suffered a re-occurrence of a hamstring injury.

Rob Arbuckle also suffered a knock to his groin early in the game but, through his commitment, managed to play half of the game while in pain.

After 30 minutes the score was 3-0 to Otliensians and then Kristian Keinhorst, who was the most consistent player in the match, kicked tactically for his brother Nick to chase following some good inter-play, and he went over in the corner giving Otliensians an 8-0 lead.

Normally, in such a one-sided game, it is at this point you would like to say that Otlien-sians continued their dominance but, unfortunately, this will have to wait for another time as Otliensians’ game collapsed.

Players stopped tackling, gaps suddenly started to appear and team play was replaced with bizarre individual efforts which were more appropriate for the school playground than an adults game.

It was only a matter of time before Thornensians scored, and they did so under the posts just before half-time to trail by only 8-7.

With Otliensians now in some disarray due to continuing injuries, including Twist’s knee, Coultas’ nose, Arbuckle’s groin strain, which forced him to leave the field, and Duggan in the blood-bin, Otliensians tried to re-group with a spirited performance by Rob Lyons.

However, 15 minutes into the second-half, Thornensians were able to take a quick tap penalty within the Otliensians half, many of the hosts were slow to respond and, in doing so, Thornensians were able to score a simple try which was converted.

More bizarre play occurred, leading to a Thornensians pushover try. Otliensians rallied for a short period and, through good forward play, Rob Gray was able to dive over for an unconverted try.

This was a disappointing day for Otlien-sians, who don’t have a fixture on Saturday, but will be in action at home to Bramley Pheonix on December 12.

However, this defeat could have been worse had the teams above them in the league not also suffered disappointing results.

Coach Gumbs said: “Otliensians would like to congratulate James Holland, who had a star performance for Yorkshire Under-19s.

He has also been successful in being called up for trials for Yorkshire Under-20s. Otliensians’ future looks bright with such talented youngsters, and the conveyer belt will continue with the likes of Goakes, Prest, Lofthouse, Ball and Clewes.”

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