OORUFC Match Report
8th February 2025
OORUFC 54 vs 12 Leeds Corinthians
Another convincing win for Ensians
Last Saturday Otliensians welcomed Leeds Corinthians to Chaffers Field. The only side bar Halifax to beat the blues this season. Corinthians started the season well, but have suffered five defeats to date. That said, the home supporters knew Corinthian’s upright rugby league style of hard running and quick recycling would be a challenge for any Yorkshire 3 side, but Ensians are playing with ‘Joie de vivre’ and appear to be enjoying every fixture. The unified goal of promotion intoxicating the whole squad.
Early on in the match Corinthians conceded far too many penalties, mainly for high tackles. They weren’t necessarily malicious, more ‘league muscle memory’, but the excellent referee kept up with play, which isn’t often the case in Yorkshire 3. He stamped his authority early on, serving the visitors two yellow cards.
Within minutes second row Jay Walsh, set off on one of his usual charges upfield, making a nuisance of himself, but as expected Corinthians didn’t shy away from hitting the attacks head on.
With another penalty following a yellow card, Ensians found themselves 5m out searching for a gap in the defensive line. Number 8 Luke Cowdell took a quick tap, dummied before diving over to score in the right corner. The conversion wasn’t to be, but the scoreboard had started to tick.
On the twenty third minute Cowdell put on a show for touch side fans with his infamous hand-off. Brushing defenders aside to the roars of the crowd as he headed for the corner again. Teams should know by now the only way to tackle Cowdell is below the knees. Having dragged in 4 defenders, the pass inside gave ‘Coops’ an easy cruise in to score. Coops added the extras taking the lead to 12 points.
Corinthians came straight back with an attack down field, but Ensians excellent tackling from Harry Gillson and Luke Exley held them back. Eventually a bobbling grubber was gathered by Corinthians left wing, and he dived into the corner for an unconverted try. Play ebbed and flowed for the next ten minutes, neither team giving much away. With a line out on the half way hooker Corey Gowan delivered a clean ball for Noel Gillson to gather. Scrum half Rob Lofthouse spun the ball wide to Jake Bentley who sent a deft chip over Corinthians backs. Cooper secured the ball before passing left. From the maul the ball quickly came back to Coops, and he jinked over to score and convert, increasing the lead to 19:5.
From the long restart utility man, Harry Wales drove play back to the ’22. With another penalty advantage for a high tackle, the ball was spun wide to winger Isaac Gillson, who opened the gas, and set off on a 50m sprint to the line. Cors’ winger and full back tried their best but couldn’t catch him as he dived for the line. The conversion again successful from Cooper gave the blues a 21 point lead.
Forty minutes in, with yet another penalty on their own 22, Ensians spun the ball wide out to young colt Sydney Wood who made a 40m break. Sensing he wasn’t going to make it all the way he selflessly passed out to Will Howarth in support. As usual Howarth ‘skinned’ his opposite man and scored in the corner. Coopers excellent conversion increased the lead at half time to 28 points. An unexpected treat for the home supporters at 33:5.
Just before the half time whistle, second row Jay Walsh suffered a nasty cut to the eye and had to retire. His powerful breaks upfield were certainly missed in the second half, but with a strong bench Josh Howarth entered the pack adding to the physicality upfront.
Despite the deficit Corinthian's fought back early on in the second half and scored their last try of the game. Their excellent fly-half added the extra 2, closing their tally at 12 points. With almost thirty minutes left on the clock there was certainly plenty of time for Ensians to excel.
Half way into the second half, Winger Will Howarth scored an audacious try, with footwork Fred Astair would have been proud of. Following some serious pressure from the blues, Corinthians attempted to kick deep into the home half. Young fullback Wood, safely caught the ball and ran 15 yards before passing out left to Will Howarth. Howarth made it twenty metres before he was surrounded by a wall of black shirts. He stepped back inside retracing his steps before exploding out of the blocks, leaving the would be tacklers open mouthed; the forty metre dash to the try line over in a flash.
The easy conversion increased the score to 40:12
Another score soon followed. With a scrum on the half way line, the ball was passed out to Cooper, who popped the ball back inside for blind side winger Isaac Gillson to take. Gillson hit the line with pace and took play to their 22 before passing out left to Jake Bentley in support. Bentley finished the well worked move unopposed. Cooper still on fine form converted to take the score to 47:12.
In the last minutes of the match Ensians had one player off with a yellow, but were forced to lose another man. The referee was fully versed in the dark corners of the rule book, and as we didn’t have a viable prop and scrums would be uncontested we had to concede a player.
Once the confusion had been ironed out, and even with only 13 men on the field, Ensians came back at Corinthians and gave them little breathing space.
Corinthians broke out of their twenty two up to the half way before Bentley tackled the attacking player. With Cooper close at hand the ball was turned over in the jackal, and the direction of play reversed. On the third phase the ball was spun down the line. This time centre Harry Wales wanted a piece of the action and stepped back inside splitting the defence. Wales made it thirty metres before being tackled yards short. He held strong and managed to partially break free and reach out to ground the ball under the posts. The simple conversion from Cooper closed the tally at 54:12.
Ben Ritson