OLD MODERNIANS 5

OLD OTLIENSIANS 32

A MUDDY pitch and a piercing cold wind greeted the teams for this derby game. Playing up the considerable slope in the first-half Otliensians exercised a certain amount of control playing most of the game in the Mods' half.

Despite this there was little cohesive movement and not a lot to test the Mods' defence.

Otliensians took the lead with an Ian Chaplin penalty goal followed by a try from Dave Roberts from the back of a scrum close to the Mods' line.

This gave them an 8-0 lead at half-time.

With the advantage of the slope in the second period Otliensians took control although it must be said that the advantage of the slope was nullified by the very muddy conditions which gradually deteriorated.

Otliensians increased their lead with a try by Richard Snith from a tap penalty and went further ahead with a try by Andy Rockett who peeled off a rolling maul close to the line.

Robert Arbuckle scored after a short blind side break by Neil Birkett and Anthony Collins fielded an attempted clearing kick by the Mods' defence to beat several players on his way to the line.

Two second-half conversions by Chaplin completed the scoring.

Otliensians A 66

Modernians A 8

The pattern of this game was set in the early stages with Brett Tenniswood running through the visitors' defence after five minutes.

Although there was no conversion it was not long before the score was increased with a typical Andy Cooper try, converted by John Thorpe.

Further pressure resulted in a try for Mark Stevens, ag ain converted by Thorpe, and a try from half-way by winger Rob Wilkes who outpaced the defence to give the home side a 24-0 lead.

Although Mods' forwards were more competitive in the second period they received little support from outside with Otliensians running inside at regular intervals.

John Thorpe burst over on the right and hooker Richard Paley sprinted over from 30 metres. This try was coverted by Thorpe.

In a rare visit to Otliensians' 22 Mods got on the scoresheet with a penalty but this was immediately nullified by Cooper's second try, again converted by Thorpe.

A try by Richard Brooke, put away by Brett Tenniswood, further increased the scoring.

Two tries in five minutes from full-back Aidy Fawell - one converted by Thorpe - continued the rout.

The final try was scored by scrum-half Paul Brook and was converted by Thorpe. The referee asked the captains with ten minutes to go if they wished to continue, they decided a hot bath was the better option.

Otliensians B 14

Wharfedale B 14

As the score would suggest this was a highly copmpetitive and closely contested game enjoyed by all.

The home side had a slight edge in the first-half scoring two tries - one by Ian Lawrence converted by his brother Mike, who had to leave the field shortly after with a bang on the head, and one by Peter Gillson, who was enjoying himself at the back of the line.

The conversion was added by Ian Lawrence.

In the second-half the visitors set about with gusto to redress the balance.

It was 14-14 with 15 minutes to go although both sides had chances the defences were on top giving what had been an excellent game a very fair result.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.