click here for more photos

If ever there was a game of two halves then this was it. After heavy rain in the morning the skies cleared leaving a mild afternoon but with a blustery westerly wind blowing down the valley .As ever the pitch was in fine condition.

Playing with the wind in the first half play was even in the first 10 minutes with Halifax looking strong in the scrums and some good handling from both sides. However the first time the home team worked their way into the visitors 22 they were stopped just short of the line and from a penalty just afterwards Luke Freer (playing scrum half due to an injury to Rob Lofthouse ) went over to score the opening try converted by Connor Bateman. Straight from the restart Rob Arbuckle secured the ball ,recycled to skipper Sam Featherstone who passed to Olly Eaves who interpassed with Josh Howarth to score a glorious 70 metre try converted by Connor Bateman to make a score of 14 points to nil for ‘Ensians.

Not to be outdone Halifax came back and following a missed tackle moved into the ‘Ensian 22 with their backs showing some crisp passing but the home defence held firm .After the ball had been cleared on 21 minutes Olly Eaves cross kicked cleverly using the wind for Connor Bateman to collect the ball and outpace the defence to score an unconverted try wide out. Despite continuing to attack the Halifax defence held only conceding a penalty goal by Connor Bateman before changing ends the half time score being 22 points to nil in favour of ‘Ensians.

The pundits on the touch line questioned whether the lead was enough in view of the strong wind .The opening of the second half calmed their nerves but only temporarily as the home team went straight into the attack and after 5 minutes in the visitors 22 a rather confusing passage of play resulted in Luke Cowdell scoring a try converted by Connor Bateman to make the score 29 points to nil.

Halifax came straight back into the attack ,their stand off half having a fine game with excellent kicking both to touch and using the wind down the field. In the next 6 minutes this resulted in two converted tries to make the score 29 points to 14. A great run by Rob Arbuckle relieved the pressure somewhat but following a penalty Halifax scored a further converted try .The score was now 29 points to 21 with 20 minutes to go .Even though the visitors still had to score twice it was “Game on” with the home supporters now chewing their finger nails.

For the next 10 minutes it was nip and tuck but magnificent defence by the whole ‘Ensians team with Sam Featherstone outstanding in the lineouts and the whole team tackling brilliantly. One of the teams had to crack such was the intensity of the play and after 33 minutes ‘Ensians gained the ball from the scrum opened it out and from 60 metres Connor Bateman outpaced the defence and taking the full back passed to Olly Eaves who went over for a sublime try between the posts converted by Bateman.

Halifax noticeably tired after all the effort and after 38 minutes following a cross kick and ruck prop Greg Jones came out with the ball and ran 25 metres through the defence passing to Luke Cowdell who scored an unconverted try to make a final score of 41 points to 21 . This had been a fine game of rugby for players and spectators alike between two teams eager to play attractive rugby assisted by fine refereeing by Leeds Referee Ben Van Loo.

On sataurday morning at 11 oclock things looked bleak, with George Duncan giving a late drop out & dom hignit due to family illness which took the team to 13. After speaking to coach john walker, tempo put on his best creeping voice at 11:40 to ask two of the first team subs to come & play & help the 2nds out, & fair play to them, they didn’t just do that, but lifted the whole team to put in a great performance to beat a shell-shocked Halifax team.

With Jamie kenworthy a no show at the maypole meeting place [ due to drunkenness ,caused by girlfriend trouble ] & connor paley [ couldn’t believe mummy tempo didn’t realize his leg hurt ] tempo was back down to 13. From a desperate phone call to roger whit, the medical bag was topped up with nappies , dum dums & a titty bottle ! [ just for tempo ]. on arriving at Halifax, tempo realized that 2 extra viscounts had come to help out, Scottish international tiddly winks runner up – jock & all round gentleman [ could of been james bond ] – Jamie chapel. The front row was smoothy boothy , ben tetley , & a calmer toby baltrop after a couple of seasons out [ childbirth ] the ever improving dean bailey filled the second row with captain brett van tenniswood. The solid old badger which is paul tosney [ now crossleys retired ] was at 7 with jock at 6 & mike Cunningham playing his first game at 8. Scrumhalf was taken up by Jamie chapel after the changing room ruled jock out!, with kristian keinhorst, & his brother nick at 10 & 12. { the stars of the show ]. Joe tindall was at 13 with lukeasz on one wing & james burgess on the other. Matty tenniswod dropped from 2nd row to take the 15 shirt.

It was obvious that the Halifax lads like there steak pies, because there was some big ones amongst them, so tackling had to be spot on, & the plan was to move the ball. The game started with ensians moving the ball, & when kristian kicked through for joe tindal to chase, a Halifax hand, accidently pulled him back to stop him scoring & earning the player a yellow card. A good drive from the scrum & a outrageous dummy from kristian, saw him dot down under the posts on 5 minutes & it was 7 – 0 when he converted his own try.

From the kickoff, good pressure by the pack saw Jamie chapel get his old scrum halfs hands going, & a well timed pass put mike Cunningham through a gap to go on one of many powerfull runs. Kristian & nick caused chaos with the Halifax defence, with nick putting out a great pass to joe tindall , who didn’t quite know what to do with all the space in front of him, but with tempo screaming run you buggar! he pinned his ears back, but a good tackle from the halifax full back dislodged the ball as he went over.

It was all ensians now, with james burgess having a good run, & when matty t cut inside it looked like the wrong decision, but with smoothy boothy gliding over the mud like bay watches david hasselhoff, it only needed keiny to spot his budgie smugglers & pass him the ball for boothy to crash over from 7.5m to score. [ it grew to the half way line after the game ]. With kristian converting it was 14 – 0 on 20 minutes.

With Halifax winning the ball from the kick off, it was defence mode, with mike Cunningham making it his job to stop there big, young, hard running prop, with tosney & jock throwing their bodies under the wheels of the Halifax juggernought ! from a turnover, mike cunningham had another good run, with kristian & nick adding a bit of nifty footwork, to make space again for joe, who pinned his ears back to score in the corner to make it 19 – 0 on 34 minutes.

To say Halifax were shell-shocked would be an understatement, as they weren’t a bad team. From the kick return, barley decided he would volley the ball back ! yes ! volley the ball back! [ he's been out for a while ] which put Halifax on the front foot. After a footrace Halifax scored on half time to make it 19 – 7.

From the kickoff, bret van tenniswood leapt, like one of the salmons he fishes, to take the ball & after a couple of phases, kristian kicked into the Halifax corner. With dean & bretts line outs spot on all day, they took one off the Halifax boys who weren’t bad themselves. Jamie chapel did an old gareth Edwards dive pass to set the back line going again, & with matty t joining the line to add numbers, it gave james burgess space for him to race in for his first try & make it 24 – 7 with no conversion.

Brett took the return kick again but Halifax were in no mood to make it easy, with ensians defending for their lives at times, but with some good ball, mike made another break & from the ruck , kristian & nick ran a move similar to austrailia s star try against England when nick took an inside ball off kristian to go through the gap, then selflessly passed back for kristian to score & make it 31 – 7.

Halifax were trying to smash their way through, but any mistakes were punished by matty , nick or kristian, & after some good interpassing by forwards & backs, who was there in his budgie smugglers, gliding over the mud but chris hasselhoff booth to score his 2nd try. With the conversion it was 38 – 7.

The last 10 minutes were mainly Halifax throwing everything & the kichen sink at ensians, & though mike had a try disallowed after a run from the half way line, Halifax scored to make it 38 – 12 to finish the game.

Many thanks has to go to the keinhorst brothers who came to help out at very little notice, but what they did is bring the best out of those around them by creating space for others rather than themselves, which many players higher up could learn from.