FOR those that recall Ensians' last visit to Ovenden park two years ago, in the end of season promotion clinching game, will remember the body strewn pitch at full-time, reminiscent of the medieval battlefield.

The return match on Saturday was to be a similar bone crunching affair, the home side determined to knock Otliensians off top spot.

From the kick off, Fax pinned the visitors in their twenty two pressurising their favoured north westerly corner. Within minutes they’d bustled their way over for an unconverted try.

Otliensians came back strong and took play into Halifax’s half. After several changes of possession, mainly due to poor handling, the visitors found themselves with an attacking line out just 10m from Halifax’s line. Ali Campbell jumped well to secure the ball, and with players around him the maul inched forwards. In prime position at the back, no8 Jay Walsh sensed the ball was near and spotted a gap. He charged down the blind side and powered his way through to score. Again the conversion unsuccessful, but the scores levelled. This buoyed Ensians' spirits; the first time they’d been inside Fax’s twenty two, they’d scored.

The restart was a carbon copy of the kick off with a long kick to the corner, chased up well by Halifax. With men in numbers, Ensians just couldn’t hold them back, and again their forwards broke through for a try. This time the conversion was true, taking the score to 12-5.

Otliensians tackled well and frustrated the hosts, much to the umbrage of Fax’s second row, who saw red and tempers flared. The ensuing melee saw most of the home side charge in, resulting in three red cards; two for the hosts, and one for Ensians.

With minutes left of the half, the away supporters’ frustrations were becoming audible. Ensians were not playing their usual open style of rugby, and were allowing Halifax to dictate the game. Eventually centre Will Cooper spotted their fullback out of position and sent a long kick into the corner for winger Isaac Gillson to chase.

Gillson did exceptionally well to beat his opposite man, and artfully dribbled the ball the extra few yards over the line to touch down and score. Jake Bentley’s conversion was perfect and levelled the scores at 12-12.

After the interval, the ball was quickly spun down the line to Jake Bentley who dummied and broke through the line. He weaved his way 30m downfield, before being tackled.

With players in support the ball was quickly recycled and again passed wide. This time young Sydney Wood looping back in support at outside centre split the line and scored an unconverted try in the corner to see Ensians the lead for the first time in the match.

This advantage lasted only a matter of minutes, as Halifax’s inside centre set up their winger to score, who cruised under the posts to score. The simple conversion gave Halifax a 19-17 lead.

For the next ten minutes the visitors enjoyed a good phase of play, with flanker Lukey ‘G’ making some impactful runs and captain Luke Exley holding his own in the scrums.

Halifax once again lost composure and the referee made it clear the next high tackle would be a yellow card. Halifax’s flanker just couldn’t help himself and was soon awarded a yellow card. Luckily for Ensians, the away fans had correctly noted it was his second yellow and reminded the referee, so it was soon upgraded to a red card. Now with a two-man advantage and 20 minutes to play, surely Otliensians could take the upper hand.

Yet again, another high tackle by the hosts ensued, but the visitors continued with the penalty advantage, and Jake Bentley continued the attack to score. The conversion was not to be, but Ensians were back in the lead at 22-19.

With ten minutes to go Halifax broke the deadlock and scored a converted try. Their shear tenacity paying off.

With only a four-point lead and ten minutes left on the clock, surely there was still enough time for Ensians to capitalise on their two man advantage, but Halifax stood strong to close the score at 26-22.

Having secured the losing bonus points, despite the loss, Otliensians remain top of the table.

Saturday's rematch with third place, Leeds Corinthians, is a must win game to stay on top.