Otliensians 40

Sheffield Oaks 0

OLD Otliensians took the field with a strong side and once again captain Richard Smith found himself leading his pack from the back row along with the ever reliable Robert Arbuckle and youngster Marcus Keinhorst.

The only change from the successful previous week's team against Leeds Corinthians was Andy Hayward on the wing for the unavailable Luke Cooper.

With the home side playing against a very strong wind territorial dominance was never going to be easy. It took Otliensians some time to get into the Oaks' half but when the Otley side got a sniff of the visitors' line they were determined to come away with some reward.

It was a succession of powerful driving mauls with Peter Bonner, Phil Cook and James Bush in the thick of things that forced the Sheffield team to leave gaps wider out.

Quick ball from one of these drives saw stand-off Kristian Keinhorst with the time and space to dance his way through a ragged defence to score an excellent try between the posts giving Will Foster an easy conversion.

Within minutes the Chaffer's Field side were back deep into the visitors' half and when the Oaks players were penalised and then sent back another ten metres for arguing a quickly-taken penalty from the flamboyant Birch found Tony Twist arriving in support. The experienced front row forward was too strong and powerful for the Oaks' defenders and crashed over with great delight.

A 12-0 lead at half-time augered well for the second-half and the home supporters were not to be disappointed. Firstly Will Foster struck over two excellent penalties and then followed an excellent steal from Andy Bush from an Oaks' line-out on their 22.

The ball flew down Otliensians' backs giving Jonathan Woods plenty of room to show his pace to score in the corner.

Arbuckle, fast returning to his old self after injury, could not be kept off the scoresheet. Forming an excellent understanding with scrum-half Birch he showed why he is one of the all time leading try scorers for the club storming over for one of his typical barnstorming tries.

Once again Foster converted and he added another penalty. The icing on the cake and a 40 point score was achieved when Hayward, on the left wing, went looking for the ball and drifted wide out right, his hard work and perseverance were rewarded with a chance to sprint over.

This came after slick handling by the backs, especially Woods and full-back Smith. This completed a convincing win for Otliensians.

Otliensians A 28

Wetherby A 9

Wetherby kindly agreed to move this fixture to Chaffer's Fields to help support the Otliensians fund raising day for their former player Paul Deeley who was injured in a match last season.

The visitors were soon on the attack and penned Otliensians back into their own 22. Otliensians welcomed stand-off Matthew Greaves into the side after an absence of some five years and he put in some excellent early defensive kicks to clear the home lines.

After six minutes, a shallow cross kick from Greaves was picked up by Andy Bower at full-back. He fed Richard Cuff who ran strongly for 30 metres to score, with Greaves converting. Wetherby continued to work hard and pressurise Otliensians and were rewarded with a penalty after 13 minutes, which was converted.

Otliensians' pack began to work really hard with Dave Roberts and Chris Myers to the fore. They began winning ball in midfield and after a period of pressure, wing-forward Anthony Greenfield broke wide to score under the posts; Greaves again converting.

Wetherby continued to exert good pressure periodically but some excellent defensive work from Otliensians kept them out and their only reward was a further penalty, to give Otliensians a lead of 14-6 at the break.

In the second-half Wetherby were soon on the attack and reduced the deficit with a third penalty goal. The home side began to move the ball well in the backs and Rob Gray ran well to score a try which Greaves again converted.

Immediately afterwards the ball was again spun along the line and Richard Cuff scored his second try which Greaves converted.

Wetherby were by no means finished and set up some excellent attacks which were repulsed by a determined Otliensians defence.

A good all round performance from the second team, who look forward in anticipation to the visit of Bramley Phoenix to Chaffer's Field on Saturday for another Merit Table game.

Old Otliensians B 38

Leeds Corinthians 17

Playing Corinthians for the second time in two weeks Otliensians began the game on the PHGS school fields with complete domination in the forwards.

Simon Davies and Ben Newall, playing at centre, combined well with stand-off and ex-first team skipper Adie Fawell to produce some sparkling back moves.

There was also good support from the forwards, in particular Chris Hayward, who had to work hard as a sole home-side jumper in the line-out.

In the second-half Otliensians' advantage in the forwards was reduced somewhat as the Corinthians were short of a front-row substitute and the scrums had to be uncontested.

They came back into the game and inhibited the free flowing back play Otliensians had shown in the first- half. However, Otliensians still managed to score tries.

On one occasion full-back Raymond Drake carried the ball the full length of the field before Ben Newall, in good supporting position, completed the move to score his third try of the game.

Other try scorers were: Simon Davies - (2), Andrew Smith (1). Roy Aldridge converted four.

The third team is gradually establishing itself under the guidance of Paul Dearden and Dave Beardsley and a fixture list to cover the rest of the season is being established.