Wath 38 Ossett 0

Ossett made their first visit to Wath as a Yorkshire 2 League side, following their promotion last season. Having suffered a surprise defeat in the away game Wath were looking to turn the tables. With four changes of personnel and a positional change in the forwards, Wath were almost at full strength.
On a sticky surface from recent rain and snow Wath’s pack totally dominated the scrum and caused disruption to the Ossett line out from the beginning.
Following a period of pressure near their opponents line, Joe Earp the Wath No.8 touched down from a 5 metre scrum. Stand off Jack Whitlam’s conversion made the score 7-0 after 10 minutes. Well organised defence and tough tackling kept at bay until Joe Earp scored again in the 25th minute and Whitlam converted to move the score to 14-0.
Following a break from a ruck by scrum half Josh Bird, he offloaded to prop Ant Hamilton who went close and fellow prop Brandon Coult scooped up the ball and put winger Adam Clark in for a try. An excellent conversion from Whitlam near the touch line put Wath 21-0 ahead.
Ossett did make one venture into the Wath 22 but the ball was cleared following a line out steal and the game moved to half time without further score.
The game flared up in the 50th minute and a player from either side received a yellow card , although Wath’s James Thompson appeared to be a case of misidentification.
Despite the home sides dominance the Ossett team remained determined and dogged. Finally, following many phases of play second row Luke Stead proved unstoppable from 10 metres out and touched down . Whitlam’s conversion went wide but Wath had their precious bonus point and the score read 26- 0.
A further incident after 65 minutes resulted in the referee producing a yellow card to Luke Stead and red to the Ossett loose head prop. A period where tempers rose calmed down following a try by Ant Hamilton on 70 minutes, following a 5 metre line out. Wath’ lead became 33-0 following another excellent Whitlam conversion.
Skipper Sean Hopper finished the scoring, picking up from a scrum he brushed aside two tacklers to score in the corner. Whitlam was unfortunate as his conversion came out off the upright and final score was a convincing 38-0.
The Wath forwards destruction of the Ossett set pieces totally dominated the game and ensured an important win as the away side’s defence was forced into damage limitation.
The Joint Winners of The Man Of Steel were the two props, Ant Hamilton and Brandon Coult, who both missed the away game but played a decisive role in Wath’s revenge.
Steve
Pres.