OORUFC Match Report
19th April 2025
Bury 48 vs 66 OORUFC
Otliensians inch closer to a return to Twickenham
with a convincing win against Bury
Last Saturday Old Otliensians made the long journey over to Bury RUFC for the second round of the Papa Johns Cup. With little prematch information Bury were an unknown quantity. For the first 5 minutes both teams gave little away. The dreams of a potential trip to Twickenham for the final, no doubt focussing their minds. Thank fully it was ‘Ensians who opened the scoring with a lovely try from winger Will Howarth. Winning a line out on the halfway line, the blues fed the ball out wide to number 8, Luke Cowdell, who’s just as home up front or in the back line. Cowdell drew in 3 men before passing overhead for Haworth to gather. With 40m to cover, Howarth did well to break free of the tackler and continue on to score under the posts. Centre Jake Bentley added the first of his eight conversions of the afternoon.
Sadly on the 5th minute we saw the referees composure start to crack, something that would plague the rest of the match and make things very difficult for the blues. A questionable penalty followed by foolish back chat gave the home sides excellent kicker an opportunity to close the gap. He duly added the 3 points. From the restart Ensians harassed the catcher, forcing a poor clearance kick. From the line out the tourists pressured the Bury defenders, almost making it through on several occasions. However a penalty to the home side soon changed the direction of play. With a break down the left wing, they made it into Ensians half before a failed kick for touch returned possession to Otliensians. Full back Connor Bateman was on fine form, and sent the ball back deep into the home half. Cleverly chasing his kick, he then tackled the gatherer and forced a penalty, Persistence that directly led to the next try. The resulting line out on the ’22, artfully won by Jay Walsh was spun wide for Jake Bentley to jink his way through. A high tackle gave a penalty advantage, so the blues continued the attack. Alex Gillson almost through, before Cowdell recycled out to Eaves, who sent a long pass directly to Josh Howarth on the right wing. His brother on the left wing may be faster but Josh makes up for it in strength and determination. Mauling his way through two tacklers, before passing back inside for Bateman in support to score. Bentley made the difficult conversion look easy taking the score to 14:3
From the restart Bateman took play straight back to the home side. Making his way to the 10m line, before Captain Luke Exley sensibly drove in with men around him to create a stable platform for the next phase. Out to Eaves, then to Coops, who deftly passed out to Howarth just before being tackled. With just enough space Howarth made it to the 22, but with four orange shirts surrounding him, the away supporters thought there was no way through, but to the amazement of the would be tacklers he side stepped left and shot out of harms way to score. Bentley’s kick this time drifted right of the posts.
Despite some excellent breaks, the home side lacked the impact in their drives to break through.
On the fifteenth minute with a penalty on their twenty two the tourist made their intentions clear; a kick for touch would have been the safe bet, but no, a quick tap by scrum half Harry Bentley saw the ball pass through several pairs of hands before second row Jay Walsh drove play forward occupying two tacklers. Then out to Jake Bentley who skilfully passed out to Bateman, the ball in his hands for only a fraction of a second. Bateman opened his gait and sailed the remaining 60m with a graceful weaving run to score his second. With Bentley adding the extras the scoreline was looking a little more comfortable at 26:3.
From the restart the home sides frustrations were plausible. The restart kick gathered by Eaves was popped left to Walsh already at pace. He made it almost to the 10m line before being felled. Scrum half Harry Bentley was quick to dig the ball out of the melee, feeding left to Eaves and then onto Jake Bentley. Again his quick hands fed Howarth on the wing, who yet again shot down the left wing like a bullet. Touching down in a favourable position for Bentley to add the three, and increase the lead to thirty points. Just when everything was working well, the direction of play was about to change when the referee flashed the first of the three yellow cards. Deeming the tackle malicious, young hooker Alex Gillson had to leave the field for ten minutes. This gave the home side the advantage they needed to score. Sadly from the restart the same pattern occurred; two penalties, and another questionable yellow card gifted the home side another score and a two man advantage. Otliensians dealt with their frustrations well and responded with the quick try for captain Exley. With three tries under their belt and everything working in their favour Bury’s squad were fired up for a potential come back. They soon scored another try courtesy of their elusive winger, and closed the gap to just 10 points at half time. The home side’s luck continued into the second half, where yet another penalty gave them a good attacking position to score a well worked try. The conversion closed the gap to just three points.
With everything working against them the blues had lost their spark and failed to score from the next three opportunities; be it a knock on, a missed pass or a stumble, things just weren’t working. The home side capitalised on this hiatus and scored another try ten minutes into the half, taking the lead for the first time in the match
Despondency started to infect the travelling supporters too, but luckily there was still plenty of time to turn things around. From the restart there was a glimmer of hope, when Ensians were awarded a rare penalty on the home sides 22. The quick tap initially driven in by prop George Martin, then Jay Walsh tried to break through but Bury held firm. Captain Exley almost made it through for his second, but was mobbed by orange shirts. Eventually it was Will Cooper who broke the deadlock, hitting the line at pace and was unstoppable from two metres out. Bentley converted putting the blues back in front with a two point lead. Jubilant from the score Ensians continued the momentum from the restart. This time substitute Connor Paley made his way to the half way line before passing out to Cooper and onto Cowdell. With Will Howarth in support a pass wide was expected, but Cowdell stepped inside to go it alone, but Bury’s full back read the play well and tackled Cowdell low. A popped pass while falling to the ground saw prop George Martin in the right place at the right time, and with great elation he charged over to score. Again Bentley was on fine form and increased the lead to 54:43. Another converted try soon followed from replacement winger Isaac Gillson in the left corner, increasing the lead to 18 points. Then thankfully another from hooker Alex Gillson gave the blues a bit of breathing space.
In the last stanza of the match, another three penalties and a yellow card gave the home side enough advantage to score again, but it wasn’t enough for them to make up the deficit and the game closed at 66:48 to the visitors.
Next Saturday 3rd May, Otliensians face Chesterfield side Tupton RUFC away in the quarter final of the Papa Johns Cup.
Report: Ben Ritson
Papa John Cup Counties 3 & Below Championship Round 2 Results