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YORKSHIRE SILVER TROPHY FINAL
OLD OTLIENSIANS 22 pts vs HESSLE 14 pts
see more photos here!
History was made on Sunday when Otliensians
won the Yorkshire Silver Trophy for the first time, comprehensively
outplaying Hessle in the Final at Pontefract.
Otliensians made a strong start, repelling the initial thrusts of the Hessle
forwards then forging their way up field with excellent rucking, picking and
driving and efficient back play, with both ball in hand and tactical
kicking. From one such kick from Birch after 11 minutes the Hessle left wing
was once again exposed, letting the ball bounce, for the alert Matt
Tenniswood to gather and force his way over in the right hand corner, as was
to be the case throughout the match Foster then had to contend with the
vociferous Hessle supporters as he attempted the conversion, which hit the
bar, an omen for later in the game.
Otliensians continued to dominate possession and began to build phases, and
were unlucky not to press home the advantage when the Hessle prop was yellow
carded on 17 minutes for a deliberate professional foul. This seemed to spur
the Hessle side in to action and they began to build their maul, and send
their big centres in to the contact areas, but the well organised
Otliensians defence withstood the pressure and the game settled in to a
midfield battle with neither side giving ground.
On 26 minutes Hessle were awarded a penalty near the half way line, the
Otliensians defenders turned and retreated and with this momentary lack of
awareness, the Hessle backs launched a quick attack, catching the defence
off guard and scoring near enough the posts for a successful conversion, and
a Hessle lead of 7 - 5. For the remainder of the half Otliensians provided
the large crowd with a display of increasing confidence and skill, and the
feeling at half time was that Otliensians were in the ascendancy, and Hessle
were beginning to find the tempo a little too much, with their bigger
forwards showing signs of fatigue, and even though Duggan had to retire from
the fray with an ankle injury, expectations were high.
Within two minutes of the restart one of the moves of the season lead to
Foster scoring under the posts. A scrum was formed on the Hessle left with
the dominant Otliensians forwards driving their opponents off the ball for
Birch and Kristian Keinhorst to quickly handle, decoy runners were sent in
to the midfield, the Hessle defence followed allowing Foster to run a
sublime line in to space, wrong footing the full back, before completing the
7-pointer for a 12-7 lead. Otliensians continued their surge, the forwards
lead by Hanogue, Smith, Bonner and Arbuckle were continually making inroads
in to the defence, with the supporting Tom O'Donnell, Markus Keinhorst and
Tom Woods hitting the gaps, it was left for Myers to control the scrum from
tight head. Behind, Jon Woods, Hayward and Philpott were counter attacking
well, with Ratahi confronting the aggressive Hessle midfield at every turn,
before being unlucky to be given a yellow card on 52 minutes. Again Hessle
came back, and the momentum seemed to swing as they began to utilise their
numerical superiority, through the prompting of ex Welsh International
Pearce, but this was to prove short lived as Ratahi rejoined the fray, and
the Hessle blindside was yellow carded as their whole team became more and
more frustrated at the Otliensians organisation and discipline. The decisive
two minutes of the game happened at 72 minutes when Otliensians were awarded
a penalty, the Hessle discipline was braking down, and they were marched
back 20 metres, before the full back was sent off for foul play. Foster hit
a sweet penalty, and at the restart as Hessle still remonstrated with the
referee, he penalised them again, the dialogue continued and back a further
10 metres they marched. Foster stepped up to the mark and struck the ball
for it to again hit thye bar, like every good winger Jon Woods was following
the ball, he gathered to score under the posts, Foster converting for the
22-7 lead.
Rushfirth, Dave Smith, Lee O'Donnell and Brett Tenniswood had all made great
impressions from the bench, and as the referee signalled 3 minutes of
injury time, Hessle pressed and bombarded the Otliensians line time after
time, but the magnificent Otliensians defence held firm, the touch judge
signalled the end of injury time, but the referee continued to play for a
further 5 minutes until Hessle scored their consolation.
The final whistle brought delirious scenes as the Otliensians players and
supporters celebrated this commanding display and achievement.
Report supplied by the coach, Gary Walker. |
