REPORT BY: BEN RITSON
OLD Otliensians travelled to Barnsley last weekend with one ambition; to achieve the Yorkshire Three league title after a brilliant season.
On a dry, warm afternoon with a flat and dry pitch the odds were certainly in their favour.
A moment of brilliance by Ensians' inside centre Jake Bentley opened the scoring after 15 minutes with a neat double sidestep, bamboozling the defence and giving him a try near the posts, which he duly converted.
Barnsley were showing speed across their backs and very soon a smart move outwitted Ensians' defence to match the scores with a converted try.
Play was evenly matched until 25 minutes had passed when swift accurate ball from a scrum followed by a loop move gave the visitors an overlap and young full back Sydney Dojahn-Wood sprinted over for a sublime try converted by Bentley.
Five minutes later Barnsley were awarded a penalty 42 metres out, and took the points with a superb kick giving a score of 14-10 in favour of the visitors.
In the early minutes of the second-half a clearance kick by the visitors was charged down and Barnsley’s second row collected the ball and raced over for a converted try to give them the lead at 17-14. A minute or two later they would have gone further ahead, but for a super try-saving tackle by Dojahn-Wood.
Eventually the will to win started to shine through the increasing gloomy weather and Ensians showed their mettle by attacking the home try-line resulting in a crash over try by prop Luke Exley after 55 minutes, converted again by Bentley to retake the lead.
Five minutes later, following hard work by the forwards, with Jay Walsh prominent, stand-off Olly Eaves moved very sharply to his right seemingly into a crowd of defenders but he had seen an opening and darted through to touch down.
In doing so, he earned his side the bonus point and ensured Ensians were crowned champions. Again the conversion successful from Bentley, gave what was to be the final score of 28-17 in favour of the away side to spark jubilant scenes of celebration.
