West Hartlepool TS Old Boys 0 Old Otliensians 72

OLD Otliensians made it 198 points for and none against as they secured their place in the knockout stages of the RFU Junior Vase.

After thrashing Wallsend 126-0 in their first pool game they followed up with another big win to set up a home tie against Ramsey Club from the Isle of Man on February 24.

It means they are two wins from a trip to Twickenham which would be a great reward for Kris Stafford's men.

Otliensians opened the scoring when a clean line-out catch by Sam Featherstone set up driving maul which resulted in hooker Tom Howard touching down.

A second try came when centre Luke Cowdell kicked through and, when the ball was re-cycled, fly half Will Cooper cut through to score under the posts. His conversion made it 12-0.

The home side responded with some strong driving play to make a rare visit into the visitors’ 22.

Once more turnover ball produced some slick handling by ‘Ensians backs and a 70-metre move saw winger Ali Booth outpace the cover to score an excellent try near the posts. Will Cooper’s conversion stretched the lead.

Booth was back on the scoreboard two minutes later with a try in the corner after some powerful running by centres Ollie Eaves and Luke Cowdell.

From the restart good interplay between forwards and backs saw flanker Joe Armitage open up the defence with a superb dummy as he ran in under the posts. Cooper’s conversion took the score to 31-0.

Full back Alex Murphy was next on the scoreboard as he linked up with the backs to go over after 32 minutes.

With their front row of Toby Keep, Tom Howard and Josh Dyson having the edge in the scrums and Featherstone and Ali Campbell producing quality line-out ball, the visitors were enjoying plenty of possession, but they suffered a setback as centre Olly Eaves left the field with a hamstring problem.

Alex Murphy moved to centre and Kristian Keinhorst took over at full back.

They went straight back into the attack and slick handling put Booth over for his hat-trick. Cooper's conversion made it 43-0 at half-time

After the break Rob Lofthouse took over at scrum-half, Dan Stevens replaced Josh Dyson at prop and Rob Arbuckle came on at number eight.

The Old Boys were stunned after only a minute of the second half as lock Matt Taylor brushed off defenders in a powerful run down the middle to cross the line halfway out.

What then followed was a collective effort by ‘Ensians forwards and backs which saw Alex Murphy score his second after 55 minutes with Rob Arbuckle touching down after one of his trademark rampaging runs two minutes later. One conversion by Cooper took the score to 60-0.

Flanker Joe Armitage rounded off an impressive all-round performance with powerful runs to touch down on 74 and 76 minutes for his hat-trick. Cooper converted one to make the final score 72-0. Undeterred, the Old Boys then put in some strong drives in the last few minutes leading up to the final whistle, but the visitors’ defence held firm.