OORUFC Match Report
13th December 2025
OORUFC 60 vs 5 Ossett
A strong finish in the league heading into Christmas
For their 10th fixture of the season to date, Otliensians welcomed Osset RUFC to Chaffers field last Saturday.
After a lackadaisical start the home side found themselves 5 points adrift with only 5 minutes played. The home side charged back to the halfway line with determination, intent on denying their opponents another easy gift.
Jake Bentley’s kick was chased by nr 8 Alex Powell who had a superb outing. First to the breakdown on many occasions and making some excellent solo runs. After 8 phases the home side were yards away from Ossett’s try line. In desperation the visitors gave away penalty after penalty trying to hold back the blue wave. Eventually Luke Cowdell, playing in the centre this week, artfully stepped back inside and split the defensive line before cruising under the posts to score. The easy conversion for Bentley gave Ensians a 2 point lead.
Ensians now started to play with excitement, keeping the ball alive and running everything back at their opponents. Despite the absence of captain Luke Exley the front row of Mick Groves, Alex Gillson and George Martin performed exceptionally well and dominated the scrums.
Ensians second try came 25 minutes in, when winger Will Howarth broke down the left wing. A slight ankle tap off set his balance on the 22. Ollie Eaves and Alex Powell were close in support to recycle the ball and keep the momentum. Eaves sent a long miss-pass out to prop George Martin who was lurking in the back line. For such a big unit, he showed a lovely turn of pace. Drew his man, before passing out to full back Connor Bateman to score. The unsuccessful conversion took the score to 12:5. Thirty minutes in Ossett received the first of three yellow cards, when their overzealous number 8 charged at Powell with a swinging arm. The resulting penalty lead to Ensians next try. Opting for a scrum on the half way line, Powell picked up from the back, out to flanker Harry Gillson to drive in. The next phase saw Eaves pass out right to Bentley and onto winger Howarth who’d floated around the back in support. Still inside his own half, Howarth ‘stepped and shimmied’ his way through 5 tackles to make it over the line. Again the conversion frustrated Bentley, but the scoreline at 17:5 was looking a little more comfortable. Before halftime Ensians extended their lead adding a further two converted tries. Bateman went over for his second and red scrum capped Powell went under the posts for his first.
In the fading light of the second half Ossett rarely looked dangerous, whereas the home side looked like they could score on almost every attack. Early into the half the visitors received their second yellow for another dangerous high tackle. Ensians next try came from prop forward Mikey Groves. With the breakdown on Ossett’s 22, tactician Ollie Eaves directed forwards Phipps and Groves into position. Knowing Ossett’s back line was verging off side he timed his pass perfectly, missing Phipps and putting ‘Grovesy’ through the gap for a race to the line. Bentley added the extras taking the score to 38:5.
From an Otliensians knock on Ossett managed to take play deep into Ensian’s half. Not being able to make it over the 22 they opted for a chip over the top. Isaac Gillson gathered the dangerous ball, stood up in the tackle occupying two men before passing to Howarth in support. Howarth skirted back towards his own line to give himself some breathing space before carving down the middle. If it wasn’t for a slip in the mud on the halfway line he would have surely made it all the way. Scrum half Rob Lofthouse continued the charge, before passing back inside to Alex Powell in support. Unopposed Powell motored the last 20 metres to score his second.
In the dying minutes of the match Ossett’s nr 8 received his second yellow card, that was correctly upgraded to a red. Now with a one man advantage Ensians quickly ran in another 3 tries. Cowdell for his second, Bateman for his third and winger Isaac Gillson for his first. Man of the match went to Luke Cowdell, but it could have easily gone to Powell who played his best match since joining the club this season.
Ben Ritson
League Table
Facebook
X (Twitter)