OLD OTLIENSIANS 23

Ilkley 12

A LACK of discipline during the early stages could have cost Old Otliensians this Yorkshire League Division One match with neighbours, Ilkley, at Chaffers Field last Saturday, writes Barrie Pennett.

However, they managed to gather their composure, fought back hard and in the end left Ilkley a little bewildered.

Ilkley failed to take advantage of their good start and there were occasions when they kicked their possession away. They really had only themselves to blame for this defeat. Mind you the home side defended stoutly and whenever an Ilkley player received the ball he was tackled by an Otliensian.

Otliensians were the more aggressive and once they had settled down and put the scrappy first-half behind them they played some attractive rugby. A feature of their play was the strong running of their threequarters who later caused many problems for the Ilkley defence.

It was certainly a derby match and there were occasions when the odd punch was seen to be thrown by players of both sides but nothing really serious.

During the early stages the packs were evenly balanced in the line-outs and set scrums but in the second-half the home side gradually got on top. There was quite a tussle between locks Dave Roberts and Richard Smith (Otliensians) and their opponents Nick Brook and Chris Hainsworth.

Both Otliensians and Ilkley need to tidy up and tighten their play otherwise they will both continue to struggle this season.

Before this match Ilkley were sixth in the table with seven points - nine points behind the leaders Huddersfield YMCA while Otleinsians were second from the bottom with four points. This win now puts Otliensians a point behind Ilkley.

It was a cold, dull day and towards the end of the match the light was not too good. The pitch, for this time of the year, was in excellent condition.

Ilkley opened in determined fashion and pinned the home side in their half. Within four minutes Ilkley had taken the lead when an Otliensians player was penalised for a misunderstanding with an Ilkley player and fly-half Justin Hewitt kicked a penalty.

Eleven minutes later Hewitt put Ilkley further ahead with another successful penalty. This long straight kick was just inside Otliensians half. He placed the ball pointing towards the Otliensians posts and calmly booted it over to give Ilkley a 0-6 lead.

Earlier Otliensians fly-half Ian Chaplin had missed a difficult kick in the ninth minute.

Matthew Tenniswood was spoken to by the referee following an incident with Mike Carr, the Ilkley scrum-half, who had appeared to taunt the Otley right winger.

Chaplin reduced the arrears in the 21st minute with a penalty but Hewitt landed two more for Ilkley (23 and 29 mins) but that was the last of their scoring.

Veteran forward Chris Hems replaced hooker D Kelly for Ilkley.

Shortly before half-time Otliensians launched an attack. The ball was eventually kicked through and centre Graham Bentley beat the Ilkley defence to the ball to touch down (40 mins). The try was improved by Chaplin to leave Otliensians trailing 12-10 at the break.

Most of the second-half belonged to Otliensians. As the game progressed their play improved while Ilkley's deteriorated a little, mainly due to them having to be on the defensive.

Three minutes after resuming Hewitt missed an important penalty kick for Ilkley. Had he been successful then Ilkley's lead would have been extended to five points and would undoubtedly have put the home side under pressure.

In the 50th minute Chaplin kicked a penalty for Otliensians to take the lead for the first time.

Two minutes later lock Dave Roberts took a good line-out ball, which was worked to advantage and centre Bentley sped home for his second try of the match, which was converted by Chaplin.

Otliensians were now playing with fire in their bellies and Ilkley just could not match the home side's determination. Chaplin rounded-off Otliensians scoring with a penalty in the 75th minute.

This had been a hard match and Ilkley had to return home knowing they had been second-best on the day.

Tries win matches, and so they should, and Otliensians scored a couple which greatly helped their confidence.

Ilkley A 24

Otliensians A 12

Ilkley Seconds returned to winning ways once again with a solid team performance, despite several changes to the selected team and some enforced juggling after three minutes when Grant Mitchell was forced to retire.

Otliensians made a shaky start as they showed several changes and their team was not finalised until mninutes before kick-off.

The tone was set at the first scrum which had the visitors speeding backwards and thereafter the supply of good quality ball for Duxbury at fly-half to probe searching kicks deep into the opposition half.

The first try came from a line-out where the forwards drove for the line, recycled the ball several times before Hemingway finally powered over.

From the re-start the visitors won the ball but were robbed in midfield by Johnson, who flicked the ball to Duxbury who in turn sensibly missed Wilson to Ince, Obank and finally Hey had to sprint 50 yards to score in the corner. Otliensians did have some good passage but stout midfield defence and back row support kept them at bay.

The visitors scored a try early in the second-half when a back row move by Ilkley saw the final pass go to ground with the try-line beckoning only for Otliensians to pounce on the loose ball and Richard Brook won the race to the line.

However, almost directly from the kick-off, Ilkley's forwards again secured the ball, Duxbury broke to be held short, the ball was again recycled and Bernie Burns converted from centre to back row and went over from his favourite distance of 10 yards.

The visitors replied with a further converted try when, with Hey off the field for treatment, they capitalised on the overlap.

Adrian Fawell made the break out of defebnce for Derek Moptt to touch down and Roy Aldridge added the conversion.,

Once again, from the restart, the ball was recycled, took out two defenders, presented the ball to allow Duxbury with his turn of pace an easy path to the try-line. Ilkley went a man down in the final 10 minutes when Hey was forced to retire and although the visitors were camped on the line, the defence remained resolute.

While Dan Webster made a storming return from injury, it was a team performance that won the day and it would be wrong to single out any individuals for praise, the team spirit is some of the best ever seen at Ilkley.

Otliensians B 36

Ilkley B 7

Otliensians B never looked in any danger of defeat. Playing attractive 15 man rugby throughout they threatened to breach the Ilkley defence whenever the ball was in hand.

An ample supply of good possession was secured from all phases by a mobile and spirited pack. The ball was driven forward by the tight five with S Pollard and C Hayward never far from the action and the lively back row of Tempest, Wood and Evans linking well with their backs.

Otlienians opened well and pinned their opponents in their own 22 from the off and this led to the first score from P Gillson.

From the re-start Gillson was again involved and he broke several tackles before linking with Tempest. Evans took play to within 15 metres of the line before giving the final pass to winger Shane Moore who touched down.

With confidence high the Otliensians threequarters ran the ball at every opportunity and tries were scored by centre S Moss and fly-half I Lawrence with John Thorpe kicking three conversions.

Twentysix points in front Otliensians appeared to relax at the start of the second-half and over elaboration at a set move allowed the visitors to hack the ball over the line and when Otliensians impeded Ilkley centre Adrian Cowgill from touching down a penalty try was awarded, Cowgill converted.

Concentration was resumed and further tries were scored by full-back S Hammond, who was Man-of-the-Match, and winger Kurt Nutchey.

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