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Leeds were soon deep in Otley's half but a raft of knock-ons and wild passing thwarted their attempts to breach the Otley defence. Otley winger Danny Smith latched onto one such loose ball but could not quite evade the clutches of the scrambling Leeds defenders.

Leeds eventually managed to cross after 15 minutes when Tom Biggs benefitted from an overlap to cross in the left hand corner. Leigh "Flamborough" Hinton missed the conversion.

Despite being reduced to 14 men when hooker Ben Steele was sin-binned, Otley continued to hassle the Tykes into many mistakes and took the lead after 20 minutes when Smith intercepted 20 metres from his own line to race away and score under the posts. Ian Shuttleworth converted to give his side a 7-5 lead.

Leeds re-gained the lead when Rhys Oakley dummied before crossing on the right. Hinton added the conversion to make it 7-12 to Leeds at half-time.

Otley started the second half with confidence and a crossfield kick tormented Biggs and allowed his opposite number Xavier Andre to hack the ball on, regather and hold off Biggs' challenge to score in the right hand corner. Shuttleworth faded the upright but Otley were level at 12-12 after 45 minutes.

Biggs registered his second run-in try after 50 minutes following a rare flowing move along the backline and Hinton converted to make it 12-19.

Otley were still fighting and could quite easily have levelled the scores after 60 minutes had it not been for a curious "14 point" refereeing decision. With play on half-way, the ball popped out of Leeds ruck with scrum-half Darren Edwards AWOL. Otley second row Howard Parr stepped over to claim the loose ball before releasing Smith for what would have been a certain try. Unfortunately, the referee bizarrely awarded Leeds a penalty for offside and the ball was kicked deep into Otley's 22. To add insult to injury, Otley were once again reduced to 14 men when Paul Turner was sin-binned and then Leeds were gifted a converted penalty try - 12-26 to Leeds when it ought to have been 19-19.

Otley continued to battle but Leeds were significantly improved by the arrival of replacement scrum-half Jacob Rauluni who salvaged something from Leeds' lacklustre half-back department. Rauluni exploited a gap on the blind-side before releasing fellow replacement Andy Tuilagi to score. Hinton converted to make it 12-33.

Leeds added a final score in the dying stages as Otley threw caution to the wind. Richard Welding intercepted on half-way and scored under the cross-bar to make it 12-40 at the final whistle.

Otley demonstrated great desire and commitment in testing circumstances. These qualities will need to be reproduced in the final two matches of the season if much needed victories are to be secured against Exeter and London Welsh when 50/50 decisions may just go in Otley's favour.

Congratulations to Leeds Tykes on their anticipated return to the Premiership. An extensive recruitment campaign will be key to ensuring that their top-flight status is not relinquished in 12 months time.

Otley: Monks, Andre, Pattison, Mooney, Smith, Shuttleworth, Brown, Turner, Steele, Wederall, Williams, Parr, Tiffany, Bland, Hyde

Leeds Tykes: Hinton, Welding, Snyman, Hepworth, Biggs, Vasey, Edwards, MacDonald, Rawlinson, Noon, Myall, Hooper, Dunbar, Schusterman, Oakley

Referee: D Newitt (RFU)

MATCH STATISTICS

Otley 12

Tries: Smith, Andre

Cons: Shuttleworth

Leeds Tykes 40

Tries: Biggs (2), Oakley, Penalty, Tuilagi, Welding

Cons: Hinton (5)

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