Old Otliensians tied in knots by Yorkshire Three leaders

Knottingley 54 Old Otliensians 12

AN away game against the Yorkshire Three leaders was always going to be a challenge and Otliensians were unfortunately depleted due to injuries and unavailability.

Much credit is due to the 17-man squad who performed with spirit and courage in the face of a pacy Knottingley outfit.

For the first quarter the visitors were in the game, matching their opponents in the scrum and ruck. With Knottingley struggling to get their line-out sorted it promised to be a close match.

The situation then changed dramatically when Knottingley scored four converted tries in just 15 minutes as their strong running capitalised on some poor tackling.

Finding themselves 28-0 down and both substitutes Lewis Robinson and James Smith on the pitch for their debuts to cover injuries.

To their credit, Otliensians continued to fight hard and were rewarded when Conor Bateman went over in the corner and Kristian Keinhorst converted.

The second halfd started with Otliensians pinned in their own half and after 20 minutes they had conceded two further tries.

Immaculate kicking was taking the tally up in sevens and yet another converted try gave the scoreboard a lopsided picture at 49-7.

Knottingley completed their scoring with a runaway try which surprisingly was unconverted, and at the death the visitors found some energy and Lee O’Donnell went over wide out.

The kick was unsuccessful and a final result of 54-12 in which Otliensians were outscored eight tries to two, could not be argued with.

A yellow card and injuries during the game did not help the visitors’ efforts, but they did not give up.