Burley 10 Old Otliensians 18

DESPITE bad conditions through the week, it was a relief that the pitch at Burley was playable for this already-delayed fixture.

Otliensians took an early lead when fly half Ollie Eaves made a great interception before providing a pass for winger Declan Jackson to add to his growing try tally.

Burley were using the slope well but great defence from Eaves, centres Luke Freer and Nathan Rogers, and flanker Ollie Cooper meant the visitors held their lead.

The hosts were awarded a series of penalties but failed to convert their pressure into points.

The Otliensians’ pack was working really hard, with the front row of Josh Dyson, Jim Dyson and Rob Lyon doing well against bigger opposition.

Stand-in scrum half Kristian Keinhorst was giving good service but tricky conditions underfoot and the slope meant the backs were struggling to make ground, despite good running from Rogers, winger Dom Oddy and full back Connor Bateman.

The home side went ahead when the Burley scrum half took a quick tap penalty and caught Otliensians off guard.

At the break Connor Bateman made way for Keinhorst to move to his usual full back position, with youngster Sean Leddy coming on at scrum half.

The visitors made a great start with a fantastic kick-off from Freer, allowing the forwards to pressurise the home side and win a penalty, which Keinhorst converted for an 8-7 lead.

The home side were placed under increasing pressure but a series of infringements at the breakdown saw the visitors reduced to 14 men, with lock Jack Smith getting a yellow card. The penalty enabled Burley to edge 10-8 ahead.

Going down a man seemed to encourage Otliensians to up their intensity. The forwards were making good yards through drives and sucking in the home defence to create space out wide.

Burley infringed at the breakdown and the visitors regained the lead with a kick from Keinhorst.

From the restart, Ensians went on the attack again, with Rogers playing out of his skin.

After some great interplay, the ball was chipped over the top and winger Oddy grounded the ball. The referee spotted that the Burley full back had taken out an Otliensians player off the ball and awarded a penalty try.

Keinhorst converted and the visitors stretched their lead to 18-10. Smith returned to the field with Ensians ten points better off.

The visitors were again down to 14 men after 65 minutes when O’Donnell was given a yellow card but the numbers were soon equalised when the Burley blindside flanker was sin-binned.

Otliensians pressed hard but could not stretch their lead.