Mud and smiles
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After being demoted last season, Thornensians RUFC have so far been undefeated in Yorkshire 4, that was until Otliensians silenced the raucous home supporters, with a tremendous performance last Saturday.

After three days of rain, the pitch at Thorne looked in surprisingly good condition, for this top of the table clash. Otliensians arrived with a strong squad, enjoying some depth in numbers this season. Utility man, Harry Wales was a welcome addition to fill in for injured Will Cooper in the centre.

The opening minutes where a slight cause for concern, as Thorne set off with unrealistic fervour. This would haunt them later in the game, when their energy levels appeared depleted. Despite the majority of possession in the first 15 minutes, Thorne couldn’t convert this to points. ’Ensians’ defence was excellent, and frustrated every incursion.

The first few scrums gave the referee an inclination that Thorne had the upper hand, but soon enough, out of position, Jay Walsh settled into his role, and stabilised the pack well, alongside his front row bed fellow, Luke Exley. After being pinned to the try line for several minutes, centre Jake Bentley eventually cleared the ball up to the half way line, easing the pressure. Thorne fumbled the ball, resulting in an ‘Ensians scrum. This time, nice and stable, giving nr 8, Will Rigg an opportunity to ‘pick and go’. ‘Riggy’ charged up field, legs pumping, drawing several men, before passing out to Bentley, who passed wide to Will Howarth on the left wing. With four men to beat, there was still work to be done. Zipping past the first three, and running straight over the covering full back, Howarth scored in the corner, and opened the account for the visitors. Sadly the conversion a little too challenging for Bentley, but these first 5 points shifted the momentum in the visitors favour.

From the restart Thorn appeared dumbfounded, and couldn’t hold back the visitors constant attacks. They struggled under the pressure, and gave away a series of penalties in their desperate attempts to keep ‘Ensians from scoring a second. The onslaught eventually too much for the home sides defences, concluded with Noel Gillson peeling off the maul, to score in the right corner. Again a little out of range for the conversion, but a 10 point lead. Thorne continued to lose control in the dying minutes of the half, increasingly frustrated with Ensians excellent defences. In the last play of the half, Thorne’s flanker charged into the maul from the side, giving the referee an easy decision for a penalty. This time with a more appealing angle for Bentley, he increased the lead to 13 points.

Constant drizzle throughout the second half, turned the already saturated pitch into a quagmire, which somewhat suited the home side's forward focussed play, but also increased the number of handling errors.

The home side opened the second half as they started the first, with a hunger for some points The first time ‘Ensians defences were breached, was half way into the second half, when Thorne’s centre, chipped the ball through, for their winger to ground. Sadly for the home fans, the kick was a little too strong, and the ball rolled dead.

With a long restart, and a Thorn knock on, Ensians regained possession deep into the oppositions half. Another stable scrum, followed by a driving maul, took ‘Ensians tantalisingly close to the try line. This time Captain Sam Featherstone, found himself in possession, and barged over for try number three. Bentley now with his calibration set, kicked a lovely conversion to increase the lead to 20 nil.

With only 10 minutes to go, Otliensians had to tackle everything that moved, and their fitness paid dividends. Thorne however were desperate to get some points on the board, even if the win was looking out of their grasp.

They dug deep and tried to breach the defensive wall. Sadly Ensians suffered a yellow card, for what was perhaps an overzealous tackle. With one man down, Thorne upped the tempo, on and off the pitch; the war cries from the home fans reaching their zenith. Under a certain amount of duress, the referee gave a second yellow card, for what was a very minor offence. Now with 2 men off the pitch, Thorne had the advantage, and the opportunity to console their supporters. In the last play of the game, the ball was spun out wide, using the two man overlap to score in the corner. With the conversion unsuccessful the game closed at 20 points to 5.

After the match coach Andy Hinchliffe commented, “we knew it was going to be a physical game, but we’d planned for this over the last few weeks, and I’m really pleased for the lads. They deserved it”.

This convincing win demonstrates the importance of good training and fitness, and ensures Otliensians remain at the top of the league table. The focus is now on Saturdays match with third place Aireborough.

Ben Ritson

Yorkshire 4 League
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