This South Yorkshire club has never been a happy hunting ground for 'Ensians due mainly to muddy conditions in mid-winter fixtures, however this early autumn encounter allowed the visitors to show their paces on a firm surface. Casting aside their slow starts of previous weeks, they set about the bigger opposition from the off and ran in seven good tries in an exhibition of fast open rugby to produce a result which left the Mosborough players and supporters stunned.
In good conditions 'Ensians kicked off down the slope to pressure the hosts with full back Ben Hatton landing a long-range penalty on 3 minutes. Four minutes later a good run down the touchline by flanker Dale Kennedy took play right up to the opposition line and scrum half Ieuan Cranswick was backing up to touchdown in the corner. Although the conversion failed, the visitors now had an 8 - 0 lead.
In the scrums the front row of Tony Myers, Ross Myers and Greg Jones were well on top against their bulky opponents, taking several balls against the head, and with flanker Sam Featherstone and lock Steve Wade dominating the lineouts, the 'Ensians speedy backs had plenty of ball to mount attacks. Desperate defence from the home side gave away another penalty and this time it was fly half Kristian Keinhorst who did the honours to stretch the lead to 11 - 0 on 14 minutes. Half backs Cranswick and Keinhorst were whipping the ball out at every opportunity and the pressure told when ever-present flanker Kennedy was on hand to link with the backs for a fine try half way out on 20 minutes to move the score to 16 - 0.
After a rousting from their captain, Mosborough rallied and made a rare incursion into the 'Ensians half where an infringement allowed them to kick a penalty to put them on the scoreboard. With the visitors still dominating the set pieces, centres Nathan Rogers and Dom Oddy were gaining good ground in mid-field and good off-loading allowed lock Steve Wade to gallop in near the posts. The conversion by Keinhorst extended the lead to 23 - 3 on 29 minutes and shortly afterwards Ben Hatton kicked a penalty from 45 metres to make the margin 26 - 3. Constant attacking down the slope allowed fly half Kristian Keinhorst to step inside and score under the posts and his conversion made the score 33 - 3 at the break.
The hosts came out in much more determined fashion in the second half and 'Ensians found themselves defending for long periods up the slope. The onset of silly niggling play by Mosborough was pounced on by the referee with a yellow card which calmed things down. Meanwhile, the back row of Featherstone, Kennedy and Rob Arbuckle tackled their hearts out with strong support from centres Rogers and Oddy. With the visitors always ready to attack, good interplay between forwards and backs allowed winger Declan Jackson to show his pace and go in at the corner on 57 minutes. Teenager Callum Doherty came on as centre replacement and Alex Albrecht took over as hooker.
Mosborough kicked another penalty before slick inter-passing between Jackson and Hatton put the latter over in the corner for an unconverted try on 70 minutes. Mosborough were far from finished and managed to drive over for a consolation try on 77 minutes. The conversion narrowed the gap to 43 - 13 to the visitors. In a final flourish, 'Ensians produced a sweeping move upfield where Declan Jackson popped up on the opposite wing to dive over wide out with the conversion by Hatton lifting the final score to 50 - 13.
This was a top class display of enterprising fifteen-man rugby by 'Ensians who showed good discipline to avoid getting dragged into a scrappy confrontation early in the second period. Their young back division ruled the day and made good use of an ample supply of ball from their lively forward colleagues.
'Ensians 2nd XV went down 32 - 18 at Rishworthians and there was big disappointment for the home 3rd XV when Rishworthians 3rd XV cried off at 1.25 pm and thus deprived the 3rd XV of their second game of the season.