Old Otliensians opened their home account in Yorkshire Three with a comfortable 32-10 win over Knottingley.

Steady rain was falling at the kick off for this first home League encounter of the season, but as the afternoon progressed the weather improved with blue skies and sunshine at the conclusion.

This was in direct contrast to ‘Ensians’ performance where, after fending off some early pressure from the visitors, the home side ran in four excellent tries before the break only to manage one in the second half, despite a huge territorial advantage throughout.

In the first few minutes Knottingley used their powerful runners to make inroads into home territory, but it was then all out attack from the hosts as they moved play from left to right with number eight Rob Arbuckle coming close. Eventually good support play put flanker Luke Cowdell over in the corner to give 'Ensians the lead.

Full back Alex Murphy joined the front line and, after good interplay with winger Will Prest, he touched down out wide. The conversion failed, but ‘Ensians’ lead increased to 10 points on 15 minutes. The hosts continued to attack with Rob Lofthouse going close before Knottingley started to gain possession through their solid line out and good support play.

With good offloading, the visitors drove into the home 22 where they attacked the home line. Over-enthusiastic defence gave away penalties and when Knottingley spread the ball, their centre cut through a gap to score near the posts. The successful conversion narrowed ‘Ensians’ lead and further pressure by the visitors led to a penalty, which allowed the visitors to draw level just short of half an hour.

The hosts went back on the attack after this setback and the visitors’ defence was struggling to cope as both ‘Ensians forwards and backs linked together to produce some flowing rugby and a second try as Luke Cowdell jinked over. The conversion by Connor Bateman stretched the lead and, after strong driving play by Paddy Phipps, Joe Armitage and Rob Arbuckle, lock Matt Taylor crashed over half way out for the bonus-point try. The conversion failed, leaving the score 22-10 at half time.

After the break, the home side continued to spread the ball wide with full back Alex Murphy linking up to gain valuable territory with John Offer and Armitage to the fore. Good interplay by forwards and backs saw lively hooker Phipps cut through for a well-deserved try. A fine conversion by Bateman then saw 'Ensians start to pull away.

Play was now almost entirely in the Knottingley half. With the home lineout generally functioning well, the home backs had ample opportunities, but the fluency of the first half seemed to desert them with handling errors and wrong options creeping in. As the backs launched another attack, a visiting player was yellow-carded for a tackle off the ball.

Home-side frustration crept in as chances were missed, with the only reward for constant pressure being a long-range penalty by Bateman to move the score to 32 -10 on 59 minutes. The home side allowed the determined defence by the visitors to knock them off their stride and, what looked like a try in the corner for Alex Murphy, was stopped as he was barged into touch.

Despite producing a comfortable a victory, ‘Ensians will be disappointed that they allowed the game to become scrappy for much of the second half when they completely dominated territory. They will be looking to put things right next week when they visit much-improved Wensleydale who sit once place below them in third.