Eerie, bleak and mysterious weather set the scene for a huge game for both rugby teams. Although Ossett and Rods are very close in distance more importantly they are close in the league standings, with Rod’s standing above Ossett in the table before the game. It was the job of the Ossett boys to ensure that this wouldn’t be the case after 80 minutes of hard rugby. Pre-match went ahead as usual. Yoghurts were eaten, heat rub used and Clint had his gloves on. The last two games had seen Ossett out winners and with another great week of training, Coach Mark Stuart wanted to carry this run on.

Before the game respects were paid through a minute silence for ex first 15 captain Dave Fletcher. Ossett send their best wishes to Dave’s family.

With the fog looming over the pitch the game got underway. The early stages of the game went to the Ossett men, with Ollie Lightfoot going in early on to make it 5-0. Credit goes to Leigh Learie for assisting the try. It was from a scrum with Ryan Fonquernie, Rob Young and Mark Stuart driving hard in the front row, with John Hall and Dale Burnley in the second row driving the front row even further, with Clinton North in at flanker with Joe Rotchell and Leigh Leary at 8. The scrum was driven forward and in setting up the try Leigh Learie allowed the ball to go through his legs allowing Danny Buckley to pick up sharply, draw in a man and pass to Oliver Lightfoot, who took the ball over the line and put Ossett ahead with Drury kicking the extras.

Ossett’s domination continued by going up another try within 10 minutes. With forwards piling forward and going over the gain line repeatedly. The ball went out to the backs looking like it was going to go out wide, but JK dummied to the right and stepped to left before bundling over the line taking two defenders with him. This gave Drury an easy second conversion to put Ossett 14-0 up.
The next 15 minutes was tough for the Ossett lads as Rods were attempting to get back into the game. Despite being on the line for a very long ten minutes after many set pieces, they couldn’t get over the line to score a try due to the spirit of the Ossett team. With Leigh Learie picking one ball up from what looked like a lost scrum on our 5-metre line it gave Ossett a chance to get out but unfortunately the ball was turned over again and Rods took the 3 points to get themselves on the scoreboard. With that pressure for a long period of time, the Ossett defence felt strong and although they conceded three points the whole team could take massive pride from the situation.

With the fog dominating the pitch mistakes started to happen with both teams, however Ossett were certainly on top and didn’t look like conceding for most the game, with great line speed and aggressive tackling the opposition’s forwards and backs didn’t look like scoring. As the game went on in the first half Ossett stopped moving the ball wider and began getting sucked into a dirty, grounding game. However, despite this Ossett managed to keep getting the scoreboard moving, with Jack Drury kicking a penalty taking the score to a 17-3 lead.

For much of the second half it followed suit with the first, with forwards working hard and penetrating the gain line repeatedly, with the backs getting involved in the hard work and running hard lines as well. The game was getting scrappier as the fog was glooming over the game with one side of the pitch not being able to see the other side. With a lot of grinding hard work the Ossett lads went over for their third try, with ballerina Mark Fisher going in, in the corner. Starting with the best scrum of the second half for Ossett and clean ball, JK gave the ball onto Shaun Abson, who then ran hard and was tackled after another quick ball Jack Drury threw a flat pass straight out wide to Fisher with Tim Roberts touching it on its way it landed in the graceful hands of Fisher after a pirouette, he then beat another two men grounding the ball in the corner. Jack Drury then converted the try with a cracking ‘nudge’ (Joe Rotchell) from the touchline. Taking the score to 24-3.

This happened to be the last contribution to the game for Fisher and Drury, which foreshadows what was to happen in the next stage of the game. I’m quite unsure what did happen as Clinton North threw a bucket of water over me but Rods went over for their only try in the game after several penalties which one was Danny Buckley being sin binned for a shoulder charge. This took the score to 24-10. Other mentions go to Mark Buckborough who with his first touch split the defence open gaining great strong yards. Chris White for an exceptional catch from a lineout which lead to the third try. Paul Westerman for strong rucking throughout and winning the mixed grill along Ryan Fonquernie who was stupid enough to leave without it, only to return and find it gone. Let’s hope Paul and Oscar enjoyed their breakfasts! Ben Jennings who showed his dying passion for Ossett when being brought off the pitch. Despite this it was great to see Ben’s passion for the club and just how much this means to him. Once again, a great day for the club, building on the last two wins with another. With the work Ossett are putting in week in week out it is only a matter of time until all this pays off. Thanks to Sam Drury for cooking another cracking set of dinners the Yorkshire pudding were exceptional. Ossett will be looking to carry on this great run of form next week against Sheffield Oaks, make sure you get down to training.

To finish off I would like to say a huge well done to Jack Drury on taking responsibility for the container keys and Joe Rotchell for waiting round with us and also for Tim Roberts who made me feel on fire! Not just because of my boxers but for taking your shirt for a week… Points went to Learie 5, Fonq 4, Rotchel 3, Westers 2, Drury/JK 1. Well done lads!

MOM Points: 5 - L Learie, 4 – R Fonquernie, 3 – J Rotchell, 2 – P Westerman, 1 – J Drury/J Karadzic

Tries: Buckley, Fisher, Karadzic
Conversion: Drury 3
Penalty: Drury