OORUFC Match Report
14th December 2024
OORUFC 87 vs 0 Skipton
Ensians four points clear
‘Ensians Finish the year 4 points clear
On what looked like a bright but cold day to start, ended with a cold overcast afternoon down at Chaffer’s Field for the visit of Skipton.
It didn’t take long for the league leaders to get their footing in the game, after 4 minutes Will Cooper used the prevailing wind to launch a 50/22 kick into the Skipton half to gain some territory for ‘Ensians. Following the line out, Jake Bentley made his first of many half-breaks of the game, to set-up multiple phases of play towards the try line resulting in Ali Campbell barging his way over to open the scoring for the home side. Bentley converting making it 7-0.
Only 3 minutes later the Blues found themselves in the attacking 22 again with a scrum. Oli Eaves found Bentley out the back from the scrum who split the defence in half to dive over for the second try of the game. Bentley converting his own try to make it 14-0 after only 9 minutes.
Straight from the Skipton kick-off, Cooper made a 30 meter break, with Sydney Dojahn-Wood and Luke Cowdell supporting him. Cowdell found contact to allow the ball to be recycled for flanker Noel Gillson to score. Bentley missed the conversion, 19-0.
After some back and forth between the teams, ‘Ensians found themselves with an attacking scrum 40 meters out. Bentley broke the opponents line and found Isaac Gillson supporting who gladly took the ball into the 22 and scored under the posts, Bentley with the conversion to make it 26-0.
After some prolonged pressure from opponents Skipton, Cooper managed to release this pressure with a superb kick to half way which ended up with the Blues taking possession thanks to the proceeding line out not being straight. Bentley almost got his second of the game after kicking a loose ball only to be beaten by the retreating Skipton Winger.
On 31 minutes, forward John Neal pounced on a loose ball at the lineout, gaining position for the home team and setting up another good attacking opportunity in the Skipton 22. Handling errors however, lead to the attack breaking down.
15 minutes passed since the last score in the game and the home team found themselves camped on the Skipton line. After a prolonged period of attack, space opened up out wide for Isaac Gillson to score his second of the game on his opposite wing. Bentley converted taking the score at half-time to 33-0.
Straight after half-time Eaves decided to try something different with a cheeky chip over the top of the looming Skipton defensive line, Cooper collected the ball and found the rangy Connor Bateman with an accurate pass Striding away, Bateman duly scored under the posts. Bentley converted, taking the scoreline to 40-0.
Skipton had some prolonged possession after this and worked the ball out wide where space had opened up for them. Unfortunately the final pass was not as accurate as they had hoped and found touched. The home side found some space from the lineout down the left wing for Will Howarth to break, only to be brought down superbly on the half-way line.
Skipton’s pressure continued and they found themselves inside the attacking 22 and a driving maul getting them almost over the line, somehow the ball came loose from the maul and Isaac Gillson picked it up on his own try line. What came next was arguably the try of the game. Gillson stepped and swayed his way through the Skipton defence to go the length of the field to score and complete his hat-trick. Bentley converts again taking the score to 47-0.
Only 5 minutes later, sub Nathan Jones made a half break and off loads to the charging winner Connor Bateman who found finisher Will Howarth to streak away under the posts to score. 52-0.
Not long after, Bateman breaks the line once again with the ball recycled to Luke Cowdell who hands off multiple opponents to race away from the half-way line to score. 7th conversion for Bentley, taking the score to 59-0.
5 minutes pass and with the ball in the ‘Ensians’ 22 the ball goes wide to Bateman who goes through the defence like a knife through butter to race 60 meters to cross the try line for his second. He converted his own try, taking the score to 66-0.
Haworth scored straight from the resulting kick-off after running 50 metres down his wing to score his second, Isaac Gilson crossed for his fourth of the afternoon pouncing on a kick through and on the final whistle Bentley broke the line again to find Howarth who completed his hat-trick. All 3 tries converted by Bentley, who finished with 10 conversions taking the full-time score to a staggering 87-0!
All in all, a very good performance from the league leaders, who now find themselves 4 points clear at the top of Division 3 coming into the Christmas break. January sees arguably the toughest fixtures of the season, with back-to-back games against Leeds Corinthians and Halifax.
Report - Sam Boyden
OORUFC 12 vs 19 Yarnbury
Ensians lead early, but eventually lose out
Click the pic for more photos
Yarnbury gain revenge at our place for the loss at their place.
Photos: John Eaves