Otley lose to newcomers

Otley 0

HAVING got away with their many errors and come away with a victory against Rosslyn Park the previous week Otley travelled to Birmingham to meet the league newcomers with hope.

Their opponents had only won by one point when the sides met in the Tetley Bitter Cup last season.

Otley felt confident enough to leave one of last week's stars Ian Carroll languishing on the bench and installed Lafaele Filipo at No 8. This gave the back row many options when going forward but not a lot of cover in defence and with Chris Baldwin still not reporting fit it was deemed necessary to move Steve Rice from his favoured tight head to open side to accomodate Dave Hall.

A dead leg kept Simon Hawkins on the sidelines so Dan Clappison moved up to stand-off and Richard Barlow, who was to prove one of the few successes of the afternoon, came in at full-back.

A knee injury to Will Darby allowed Ryan Duckett to make his debut and with Simon Smith away on a course for two weeks Wayne Hartley took his place in the centre.

Birmingham, with a couple of forwards in from Coventry and experienced full-back Jim Quantrill moving over from Rugby Lions, were in no mood to be messed about and the implications were apparent at the first scrum. Otley were badly disrupted and unhappily got no better.

This malady crept through the side, mistakes abounded and it was surprising that the home side failed to establish a winning score immediately.

Stand-off Matt Birch opened the home account with a penalty on ten minutes but Otley held out for a further 25 minutes before he struck his second.

The control Birmingham's pack had on the game finally bore fruit just before half-time when No 7 Gareth Beese was put over for a try and amazingly Otley were still in the game with the score only 11-0 at the break.

However, they were unable to lift their game. Carroll came on after 30 minutes in an attempt to beef up the scrum and Jonathan Burke replaced Phil Griffin at half-time but Otley were unable to come to grips up front.

The front row were warned for disruption, scrum-half and hooker for delaying the put in and throw in and the wheels had completely come off.

A try for No 6 Robert Bastock on 50 minutes was followed by one from scrum-half Paul Lister from a pick up by his No 8 Rory McLean - this time converted by Birch.

Following Otley's only good spell - which coincided with Sam Halligan coming on for his first game in place of Hall - sadly failed to produce any points.

Birch wrapped it up with his third penalty just before the close leaving Otley wondering what had hit them.

Otley are thankfully back at Cross Green on Saturday and after a couple of sessions with the coaching staff they will be determined to put all that behind them.

Otley Saracens 30

Doncaster 5

Saracens built on their victory in the Tim Bucknall Trophy with a strong performance against Doncaster who have made rapid progress in recent seasons. With the wind at their backs Saracens took the game to the visitors from the kick-off and Chris Quinn gave them the lead with a well struck penalty.

Keeping up the pressure Doncaster had to defend desperately and Otley were brought back twice for five-metre scrums before Carl Smith came up from full-back on the switch to go over near the posts for Chris Quinn to convert.

Saracens were in control now with Richard Smith and Steve Hudson dominating the line-out. Doncaster were tackling strongly to hold out but they could do nothing when their defence was split and Chris Quinn strode over to score his conversion making it 17-0 at half-time.

Doncaster raised their game on the restart with the wind at their backs but Saracens were equally strong in the tackle. Pressure eventually paid when the visitors drove over and the referee awarded a try.

Steve Hudson and Mike Gillson came off but there was no relief for Doncaster as they were replaced by Richard Malir and Chris Baldwin. The backs took play deep into the Doncaster half where the forwards took over and Richard Moss drove over, Chris Quinn adding the conversion again.

Saracens maintained control in the closing stages and Chris Quinn stretched the lead with a penalty and a drop goal to set the seal on a good team performance. The manner of the victory was satisfying with three debutants in the backs, Ben Greaves (scrum-half), Dominic Kershaw (centre) and Carl Smith (full-back), who all showed potential. With skipper Andy Hargreaves on the bench the team was well led by former colts captain Alan Moffatt.

Otley Tongans 15

Doncaster 15

This was a typical first game of the season with a mixture of Tongans and Viscounts players taking the field with several players operating out of position.

The visitors had the edge in the first half playing controlled rugby and soon took the lead with a forward try which was converted.

Just before half-time they added a second following pressure near the line.

Tongans began to get their game together and they created an overcap for Chris Chilton to score in the corner and maked it 5-12 at half-time.

Doncaster stretched the lead with a penalty early in the second-half but Otley finished strongly with the chance being created for Chris Chilton to squeeze in at the corner and Mike Blake operating in the centre powered over for a third but without a recognised kicker Tongans had to be satisfied with a share of the spoils.

This was a promising performance for a first game and Colts Greg Burns, Chris Lancelot and Steve Wright all did well in the pack.

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