Carlos races away from the defence to score
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OLD OTLIENSIANS 35 – OLD MODERNIANS 25
In this first round Yorkshire Silver Trophy
game, ‘Ensians tore into the visitors from the start and their efforts
produced a penalty converted by full back Kristian Keinhorst on 2 minutes.
Mods then settled down and took play to the hosts with their strong centre
making ground before slipping quick ball to his winger who dived in at the
corner to give them a 5 – 3 lead after 10 minutes.
Another mistake in mid-field by the home side handed loose ball to the
Modernians backs who snapped up the opportunity with another try wide out
increasing their lead to 10 – 3 on 15 minutes. At last, ‘Ensians woke up
and their pack began to make inroads into the visitors’ territory through
locks Alan Harker and James Findlay and No.8 Rob Arbuckle.
Hooker Collum Hanogue was having a fine game gaining strong support from
the back row of Tom Dyson, Rob Arbuckle and Lee O’Donnell. Slick hands
across the backs saw full back Kristian Keinhorst offload to brother Nick
who beat the cover to go in under the posts. Kristian converted and then
kicked another penalty to move the score to 13 - 10 on 35 minutes. Three
minutes later winger Matt Taylor barged over and Mods then responded with
a penalty to leave the score at 18 – 13 to the home side at the break.
In the second half, the home pack had the edge through the front row of
Ben Newall, Collum Hanogue and Ross Myers and half backs Sam Featherstone
and Carlos Hassan made full use of the supply of ball to push play towards
the visitors’ line. A good catch and drive saw Hanogue force his way over
and five minutes later good interplay between centres Dominic Oddy and
John Ratahi allowed fly half Carlos Hassan to loop round to score a
well-worked try, increasing the home side’s lead to 28 – 13 on 55 minutes.
‘Ensians then embarked on some risky tactics by trying to run ball inside
their own 22 and the result was a try to Mods from a turnover on 61
minutes with the conversion taking the score to 28 – 18. Again the home
forwards responded with rampaging runs from No.8 Rob Arbuckle and after a
series of drives, the supporting Collum Hanogue went over for his second
try and Kristian Keinhorst’s conversion took the home side’s lead to 35 –
18 on 70 minutes.
‘Ensians then got on the wrong side of the referee and a series of
penalties took play into their own 22. The Mods scrum half took a quick
tap penalty and the resulting converted try reduced the margin to 35 – 25
on 73 minutes.
For the remainder of the game, Ensians continued to have the edge and can
take some satisfaction from coming out on top through a spirited effort by
both forwards and backs. However, were it not for spells of
over-adventurous play and a spate of unnecessary penalties, the winning
margin would have been far greater.
SELBY 3rds 36 – OLD OTLIENSIANS 2nds 23
Due to mix-ups in pick-up arrangements,
‘Ensians arrived two players short, but, in true Selby tradition, they
loaned their only bench player to leave the visitors only one man short.
The lively home backs started with ambition and only strong tackling from
centres Dale Kennedy and Andy Hayward kept them at bay. After 7 minutes,
good interplay between forwards and backs by the hosts produced a
converted try.
As ‘Ensians settled down, they gained ground through good driving by locks
Andy Wood and Ross Nicholls with good support from flanker Ben Smith.
Selby transgressed and Matt Tenniswood converted the penalty to move the
score to 7 – 3 on 10 minutes. Three minutes later, a mix-up in defence
allowed the home winger to round the cover and score in the corner to
increase their lead to 12 – 3.
Centre Hayward made a fine break to only to get hauled down a yard short.
In the scrums, experienced props Dave Beardsley and Peter Bonner helped
young hooker Michael Groves to take several balls against the head. During
one of their many forays into Selby territory Matt Tenniswood kicked his
second penalty to make the score 12 – 6 at half time.
After the break, Selby attacked down the slope with renewed vigour and,
with their previously sound defence all at sixes and sevens, ‘Ensians soon
found themselves under pressure. A good back move gave the home side a try
on 48 minutes and an interception and slick passing produced two more
tries on 55 and 58 minutes, taking the score to 29 – 6 to the hosts.
Skipper Alan Garnett rallied his side and with rampaging runs from locks
Wood and Nicholls, play went into the home 22. Scrum half Richard Crossley
and No.8 Garnett both went close before Wood gathered a ball at the back
of the lineout to charge over for a fine try. Unfortunately, errors in
defence allowed Selby to score half way out on 70 minutes. With the
conversion, the score was now 36 – 11 to the hosts.
With Alan Garnett and Ben Smith commanding good ball in the lineout,
‘Ensians went back into the attack with lock Ross Nicholls blasting his
was over on 75 minutes and winger Dominic Birkin rounding off a good back
move in the corner on 78 minutes. With one conversion by Tenniswood, the
score stood at 36 – 23 as the final whistle went.
This was an entertaining match with plenty of spirit from the visitors
and, were it not for a scrappy period of defence early in the second half,
‘Ensians might well have come out on top.
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