Rotherham 6

Otley 26

It took Otley 40 minutes to subdue a Rotherham side which had eight foreign players in their starting line-up for this National League One derby.

In that time, Otley's awesome defence killed off any ambitions the home side may have entertained that their nifty backs, who included top league try-scorer David Strettle, would rule the day.

The hosts chose to play down the slope and had the benefit of a slight breeze, which they quickly used to advantage when a penalty gained them a foothold in Otley's half.

A line-out transgression then gave fly half Tom Eaton a relatively easy kick at goal, only for Simon Binns to cancel it out when the Rotherham forwards went over the top at the re-start.

Failure to gather the next kick-off then put Otley in trouble and Eaton once more obliged. But a scrum in front of the posts proved a good launching pad for No 8 Matt Stockdale, who picked up and drove before handing on to Dave Scully, who brought his backs into play.

He was there to take an inside pass and crash over, but a double tackle dislodged the ball from his grasp.

However, the pressure was maintained and in the 14th minute Binns levelled with his second penalty.

Two successive penalties set up an attacking line-out for Rotherham and they almost added to their score, Strettle just putting a foot into touch before diving over in the corner.

But they continued with their attempts to drive through the middle, only to find a water-tight defence.

They almost came unstuck when Binns intercepted on his 22, but he was unable to link up with the support, and the half ended with Stockdale being tackled into touch after Ian Shuttle-worth had sliced through the home cover.

Three minutes after the break, Binns passed the 200 points mark for the season with a third penalty and, as Otley's pack turned the screw, Rotherham wilted and the 'heavens opened'. A long line-out throw to James Tiffany set up a drive and a pass to Chris Hall on the blindside allowed the winger to dash over. Binns converted and the crowd began to leave. However, in the 73rd minute a superb 'box' kick by Scully fooled full back Anthony Elliott, whose knock-on was gathered by Hall, who burst down the wing.

He handed on to Shuttleworth, who found replacement Kyle Dench with a long, flat pass and the centre ran to the posts, Binns converting.