Otliensians.........6

Skipton................16

After three early season convincing victories Otliensians' coach Hugh Gumbs was looking for a harder game to test the resolve, fitness and application of Otliensians.

Newly-promoted Skipton, who had not visited Chaffers fields for some 15 years, included two New Zealanders in their line up and with an enthusiastic band of supporters were able to provide this.

Playing with the wind, Otliensians played in a more controlled way than in previous weeks but persisted in attacking the blind side. Skipton soon showed their scrummaging strength, packing lower than the home side and this was to be a key to the game.

In the first quarter the visitors missed an easy penalty and the Otliensians' defence was not as organised as the visitors with the half-backs Tim Swann, who worked hard throughout, and Simon Coates having to do much of the back row's tackling.

Otliensians won good line-out ball from Richard Smith and Darren Hardie but Skipton's defence from the forward drives and limited back play was very positive. Dave Smith kicked an early penalty which was soon equalised and this

same player sparked off an excellent move which had the Skipton defence in some disarray deep in their 22 but lacked initial support and then good cover prevented a score.

The Otliensian scrummage was under tremendous pressure and they lost several strikes against the head. After 30 minutes Hugh Gumbs replaced back row man Dave Roberts but it was Skipton who went further ahead after a period of sustained pressure when a miss move in midfield put their full-back clear. The conversion gave them a 3-10 point lead at the break.

Otliensians began the second-half with renewed vigour, with Tony Twist, Richard Smith and Dave Smith, who moved from full-back to the back row, to the fore. Pressure resulted in another penalty goal from Dave Smith and an apparent set piece improvement gave the supporters some hope.

After 25 minutes into the half Darren Hardie damaged his shoulder and was replaced by Matthew Payne but the scrummage again came under severe pressure. Skipton converted another two penalties but Otliensians produced some excellent drives to take play to the Skipton line only to lose their own put in at a scrum which lacked any concerted drive. Chris Bawden now at full-back produced one magical moment late in the game which with more support could have led to a score.

Otliensians are drawn away to Skipton on October 7 in the second round of the Tetley Bitter Vase and the need to improve in several areas will be on the coach's mind.

Organisation of the scrum and some line-out ploys need to be worked on as does the support to the several quick players running from deep positions who showed they have the ability to counter quickly.

Skipton A..............18

Otliensians A...........5

It was obvious early in this game that the home side were to dominate possession.

They restricted the visitors to sporadic bursts from any loose pickings. The control again remained with the home team throughout and had it not been for a tenacioius and spirited defence by all the team they would have suffered a much more serious defeat.

In fact from one of their scraps of possession they scored an excellent try through Anthony Collins.

Otley Juniors

Otley U-14's.......... 48

Yarnbury................12

This was a good start to the new season for the Under-14s with a splendid win over local rivals Yarnbury. One of our new players, Richard Bennett started the scoring in the first two minutes charging his way over the line after a dropped ball.

The old boys not to be outdone ran strongly and Eddie Fraser and Alex Fox were rewarded with tries before half time. Yarnbury started the second half with a converted try but Fraser ran well down the wing to reply Alastair Pickles converting. The visitors came back again for their second try but

that was their final effort as Otley scored four further tries. Matthew

Osborn intercepted a long pass out and headed for the line, the other

newcomer Richard Freeman used his strength to power over the line twice after good tackling and handling stints from the backs and the forwards and captain Tim Mobbs finished off the scoring with a typical barging run.

Pickles converted one try and Kirk Arundale two others. This was a good team effort as the varied names on the score sheet showed. Men-of-the-Match were Freeman and Bennett.