OORUFC Match Report
6th September 2025
Halifax Vandals 21 vs 26 OORUFC
A great start to the season
Otliensians opened the 25/6 season with a ‘grinding’ win away at Halifax vandals. Vandals finished 5th in Yorkshire 2 last season so certainly weren’t expecting such a hard fought game from a recently promoted team.
Strangely in my opinion the home team opted to play down hill in the first half, no doubt expecting to ‘rack up a decent tally early on’. It was clear in the first quarter the incline did give them a good advantage and the Vandals revelled in their two converted tries. Thankfully 20 minutes in Ensians started to ‘wake from their summer * aestivation’ and make some counter attacks. Previous Captain Sam Featherstone made a welcome return and the improvement in the line outs was soon clear to see. Despite the home sode’s excellent defence, Ensians levelled the score on the break, thanks to two tries from nr 8 Luke Cowdell.
Now with the slope and their opponents already showing signs of fatigue, Ensians stepped up a gear and pressured the home side phase after phase. It was clear Vandals’ downhill plan hadn’t quite gone the way they hoped. Harry Wales and Paddy Phipps in the forwards making several strong runs. Sadly Ensians backs didn’t have the space to shine and the game was dominated by close physical play.
A few questionable decisions gave the Vandals another converted try from their excellent scrum half and the lead at 21:14, but with 20 minutes still on the clock Ensians knew they had time to take back the lead. From the restart Ensians pressured the home team into making mistakes and gained possession inside their ’22. 5m out Captain Luke Exley powered his way over to score under the posts. Jake Bentley added the ‘extras’ to level the scores.
Within the last 5 minutes of the match Luke Cowdell scored his third of the day, securing a 5 point lead. Just as Bentley was going to strike the conversion a strong wind dislodged the ball from the tee. In the scramble to gather the ball and take a potential drop goal, the ball was charged down. A cruel way to end Bentley’s excellent form of 18 consecutive successful goal kicks.
The boys should be proud of their efforts and if the backs had a little more space the win would have been far more convincing.
Next week’s home game is against Bramley Phoenix at 3pm KO.
* aestivation is a prolonged period of dormancy during a hot or dry period.
Report: Ben Ritson
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