West Park Leeds 56 Old Otliensians 5

ON a crisp afternoon, Otliensians travelled to the Sycamores to play neighbours West Park Leeds and returned empty-handed after a crushing defeat.

Looking for a first win since September, the visitors got off to the worst possible start.

From kick-off, the home side pegged Otliensians in their own half and with less than three minutes gone, a neat chip into the visitors' 22 was gathered by the winger, who dived over to score a try near the corner.

West Park Leeds increased their lead to 11-0 with two penalties before scoring a second try on the half-hour mark.

The ball was spun wide to their right winger who sped past his opposite man and cut inside the Otliensians full-back to score under the posts. The conversion made the score 18-0.

Chasing the game, Ensians turned down two kickable penalty chances by opting to run the ball.

They eventually got their reward when a chip through by Olly Eaves caused confusion in the home defence. Connor Bateman was quickest to react and gather the ball before diving over in the corner.

The conversion was missed, leaving the score 18-5 at half time.

Otliensians started the second half with far more purpose but conceded a soft try ten minutes in when the West Park Leeds blindside flanker ran through some poor tackling to score under the posts.

The extras gave the hosts a comfortable 25-5 lead and they then secured a try bonus point when their stand-off jinked his way through the Ensians defence to score a fourth try under the posts.

Following the conversion, West Park Leeds now had a commanding 32-5 lead.

Otliensians endeavoured to get back in to the game but their prospects were dealt another blow when substitute Nick Keinhorst was sent from the field for dissent to the referee.

The hosts were quick to exploit the extra man advantage and moved the ball wide at every opportunity. After several phases of play, they created an overlap and scored in the corner to increase their advantage to 37-5.

This lead was extended to 42-5 when the home backs again exploited the space and created an overlap for their substitute centre to score out wide.

The visitors' defence was now looking tired and West Park Leeds continued to take advantage of the extra man, with their well-drilled backs creating lots of chances.

In the last five minutes, the West Park Leeds right winger scored two more tries, completing his hat-trick in the process, both of which were converted to leave the final score a resounding 56-5 for the hosts.

Despite the scoreline, Otliensians can take heart from some aspects of this performance.

They played some attractive rugby either side of half-time and were unfortunate not to add to their try tally. With several players sidelined at the moment, their return will only add to the strength of the squad.