Burley 2nd XV v Otliensians 2nd XV
26th January 2008
The sun was shining through the holes in the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey, the ground was soft and the temperarure had soared to a high of 9 degrees.
The Burley boys almost had enough players to field a third team but with just a few missing opted to have a ten player bench.
The visitors won the toss and opted to head up the hill for the first half, Burley chose to be on the reciving end of the kick off. The game took no time at all getting off to what was looking like being a fiery and very competitve encounter on the Burley soil.
Mark Sunderland and Will Broomfield teamed up brilliantly in the centres running strong balls in to the opponents and letting the boys in black and blue know we wanted the victory. Fly half Tim Betts was back to his best with three quarter length of the pitch kicks coming from his right boot, setting the line on the visitors' 22. Old timer Pete Leeman was pinpoint accurate with the throw in, caught by captain Jim Griffin jumping at four and then Burley's number six Julian Broster smashed over the line to get Burley's first points of the day and Julian's sixth of the season so far. A difficult kick from very near the touch line was facing Tim but sure enough he sent it straight beteen the sticks adding the extras making the score 7-10 after twenty minutes played.
Otley restarted the game with a high kick which was collected by Burley's number 4 Matt Bradley, who took the ball in, turned, and reset ready to be picked up by open side Brendon Cowy. Despite having to be awakened at 13:45 to find out were he was, Jonny Baker was on fine form terrorising the opposition number nine and anyone else that had the pleasure of going anywhere near him. He collected the ball from Brendon's run, farmed out to second rower (who should hve been in the ruck) Alex Gerrard, who then give to new boy and awsome full back James Mackinnon. James went on a storming run down the park, backed up by the longest winger in the world, Andy Taylor, who after receiving the ball took his tackle well and, although massively out numbered, managed to recycle the ball.
The visitors were clearly not used to this kind of pressure, as mistakes from their number ten were plentiful. Burley were rewarded with a scrum from one of his droppsie balls but unfortunatley Otleyensisnas won the ball straight back, it was given to their centre then on to the winger and it then looked like he was going to go the full length of the field. However the 'Flying Doctor' Ian Anderson give chase and with the finest ankle tap ever seen, the Otley winger was brought to the ground. Ian then helped himself to the ball and kicked it down the field, rolling dead followed by the half time whistle.
The second half saw seven substitutions take the field, Kenny Parsons manned his wing, Danny Morell took to the flank, Marcess Peel, and Fraser Stuart took charge of the centres, Jamie Chique replaced James Mackinnon at full back, Stuart Nichols joined in the second row and Tom Barnes came in at hooker, moving Pete Leeman to tight head prop and giving big Kelvin Crooks a well deserved rest after dispalying some superb offloading of the ball in some strong hard tackles. Ali Lauatiti eat your heart out!
The second half was started by Tim in great fashion. A great high and deep kick saw the Burley boys' fresh legs getting to the Otley man the split second he caught the ball. Front row forward Pete Shaw joined in the tackle to take the visiting second rower to the ground with an almighty bang. The ball was dropped and went backwards and the Otley scrum half was the first to react. He collected the ball and went on a strong run down the slope attacking the Burley line. Big hits came from Tom Barnes, Jim Griffin, and new to the field Dan Morell forcing the error from the vistiting number nine.
Burley were taking a little bit too long trying to get to grips with their new line up in the second half and as a result Otleyensians ran riot with two quick tries coming from their numbers 14 and 12. The heavily tattooed full back for Otley added the extras on both accounts leaving the score 7-21 to the away side. The home team showed great character and were determined not to let their heads go down. Another fantastic kick off saw Otley spilling the ball and being collected by Burley's centre Fraser Stuart, a ruck, and a maull later the ball came alive only to be pounced on by Burley's number ten, Tim Betts who made a bee line for the whitewash to collect five valuable points. He also added the two points from the conversion. Burley were back in the game at 14-21 with 18 minutes left.
Jim Lewin from the side lines made two more changes, Jim Griffin made room for Karl Haywood and yet another ginger boy Aaron Ralph stepped on to the field for Matt Bradley. With the changes being made, the home team found it harder and harder to adjust to each other's play, and like predators Otliensians took masive advantage of this scoring three very quick tries, converting two of them and just putting a Burley comeback out of reach.
The final score was not a fair representaion of the game. Although Otliensians are a strong, well-drilled outfit the Burley boys give them a good run for their money and possibly give them their hardest game of the season so far.
The final score was 14-40.
Jim Griffin