History-sealing double success for superb Oswestry

Oswestry travelled to Worcester RFC to play in the Midlands Plate final against a team who are at the same level of Oswestry but in a different area. Oswestry took a large number of supporters to cheer their team on and in front of a large crowd Oswestry started the day at 11.15am the first of 5 finals.

Oswestry kicked off and couldn’t have had a better start within a couple of minutes Jacob Jones showed his class to run in a try from the wing. The kick was missed and Oswestry took a 5 point early lead.

Old Yardleians started to get into the game using their large forwards to try and dominate Oswestry. The Oswestry pack were coming off better and Connor Crompton made a number of crunching tackles with James Evans showing his power in attack and defence. All the pressure was from Oswestry as they slowly made their way into the opponents half. After 15 minutes Jed Corbett was too strong and fast to be caught and found a gap to run in the second Oswestry try. Aiden Lindsay converted the try and Oswestry were 12 points up.

Oswestry continued to press the other team not allowing them any time on the ball and as half time approached Captain Gaz Ellis charged over to score a try. There was no conversion and Oswestry went in at half time with a 17 point lead.

The coaches Jordan Davies and Lee Rogers were happy with their men and the Shropshire boys had made a good start to the final.

Old Yardleians kicked off the second half trying to get back into the match but all the dominance was coming from Oswestry in the scrums and line outs. All 15 players from Oswestry were doing their job as they tried to add points to the lead. Jacob Jones went on a run after 10 minutes of starting the second half and was illegally tacked awarding a penalty to Oswestry. Craig Richardson Howell came on for Jacob. From the penalty there was a subsequent lineout of which Oswestry won and as a pack drove the opponents back over their try line giving prop Connor Blair a chance to score the fourth Oswestry try. Oswestry were now 22 points up.

A short while late in a lapse of concentration the opponents were able to score their first try but did not convert it making the score 22 to 5.

Oswestry came back from that as they battled in centre field for the ball where Iwan Ellis showed his speed and skill to run over 50 yards to score the fifth try. Aidan Lyndsay converted the try and Oswestry were 29 to 5 up.

The trophy was starting to look safe as Oswestry did not take their foot off the pedal with the tackling continuing to disrupt the Midlands team. James Evans continued to upset the other team with his furious tackling leading to a mistake that Jed Corbett was able to seize getting an intercept ball to run and score his second try. Aidan converted the try making the score 36 to 5.

The game finished with a great team performance of all 22 players who played in the final. Many players could have been chosen for man of the match but there was won clear winner James Evans who never stopped throughout the match.

Captain Gaz Ellis was handed the plate award in front of the main club house in front of a large crowd much to the pleasure of the Oswestry supporters who made the 70 mile journey to cheer their team on. On this day Oswestry won the plate which was a great way to finish the season off

together with winning the league as un beaten champion’s which is the first time in the clubs history a double has been achieved.

Oswestry look forward to the 2022 23 season knowing that they will face more challenging times.