OORUFC Match Report
12th January 2013


Corinthians 18 vs 41 OORUFC

On an afternoon with conditions good for rugby despite the bitterly cold breeze the hosts spent the first 10 minutes camped in the 'Ensians 22 and only desperate defence prevented their strong forwards from scoring. The Leeds stand off narrowly missed with a drop goal but was then successful with a penalty goal.

However a couple of minutes later Declan Jackson took play into the home 22 and Luke Cowdell forced his way over the line only to be knocked out in trying to ground the ball and taking no further part in the match. 'Ensians came more into the game and Kristian Keinhorst scored a penalty goal and after 20 minutes after a good back movement Rob Arbuckle sprinted for 30 yards to score a great try converted by Keinhorst to make the score 10-3 in 'Ensians favour.

The next 10 minutes belonged to the Leeds forwards who ground out possession up front resulting in a penalty goal and a drop goal to make the score 10-9 to the visitors.



In a strong attack by the forwards man of the match Rob Lyon scored a lovely try racing over from the 22 which was converted by Kristian Keinhorst the score now being 17-9 to 'Ensians.Again Leeds had the majority of possession but they were unable to cross the line due to superb 'Ensians tackling with Sam Featherstone and Steve Wade prominent. Leeds scored another penalty goal to make the half time score 24-12 in favour of the visitors.

The first 20 minutes of the 2nd half followed a similar pattern. Leeds used their strong forwards to keep the ball tight but the visitors defence was solid with the whole team tackling like Trojans and clever kicking from Skipper Ieuan Cranswick and Kristian Keinhorst. In this period Leeds scored more 2 penalty goals, the score becoming a nervy 24-18 and the Leeds kicker likely to convert anything in the visitor's half. The tipping point of the game occurred in the 23rd minute. Leeds were awarded a penalty in front of the posts but elected to take a tap.'Ensians strong tackling forced a handling error and the Leeds chance had gone'Ensians upped their game and the backs became more of an attacking rather than a defending force with Josh Howarth and Nathan Rogers making telling runs and the half backs Ieuan Cranswick and John Ratahi combining well.

After 30 minutes prop Greg Jones powered through to score a try converted by Kristian Keinhorst to earn the bonus point and 5 minutes later 'Ensians scored the try of the match. A kick from the Leeds 22 was followed up and kicked ahead by Declan Jackson resulting in a maul a few yards short of the line. The ball was quickly passed all along the line for Rob Arbuckle to go over in the far corner for an unconverted try.

Leeds were far from a spent force when in the last minute Matt Garrett intercepted a pass in his own 22 and ran 70 yards before being caught with Ali Campbell on hand to score an unconverted try to make a final score of 41 points to 18.

This was a fine victory over tough opponents at a venue where over the years 'Ensians have struggled to win.



Click the pic for more photos

OORUFC 2ndXV 13 vs 36 Leos 3rdXV

Ensians 2nd team played a friendly game against a well organised Leodensian 3rd XV losing 36 pts to 13pts.The 'Ensians scorers were tries by Chick and Ben Smith and a penalty goal by Will Haines.