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With Moseley slipping to an agonising defeat at home to London Welsh, the relegation battle will go down to the last weekend of the season when an Otley victory at home to London Welsh and a Waterloo victory on their own patch against Moseley will mean Otley achieve 'The Great Escape'.

With the Chiefs aiming to top the 'South West Mini-League', they were in determined mood ahead of the penultimate fixture of the season. They were soon 7-0 up when Otley failed to gather the kick-off and skipper Richard Baxter ended up being driven over from an attacking lineout. Yapp added the conversion from the touchline and followed it up with a straightforward penalty to make it 10-0 after as many minutes.

With Jon Benson kicking very well out of hand to give his side good field position, Otley had their first opportunity to launch some attacks. Otley skipper Ian Shuttleworth chimed into the line down the short-side to make the initial break before offloading to Andy Brown who in turn fired out a cracking pass to the unmarked Danny Smith who scorched over in the corner and rounded off beneath the posts. Shuttleworth converted but was unlucky to hit the upright with a penalty attempt from half-way soon after.

Exeter scored their second try from a counter-attack. Exeter's impish scrum-half Kevin Barrett broke free down the left hand touchline and inter-passing between Alistair Murdoch and Kevin Barrett provided Junior Fatialofa with a clear run to the line.

Exeter then took advantage of Paul Mooney's sin-binning by scoring tries just either side of half-time. First, right winger Jason Luff scored in the right hand corner and then Tony Yapp took an inside pass to go over under the posts and convert to make it 29-7 after 41 minutes.

Otley never let their heads drop and with forwards and backs combining well they went on the attack. With back-row trio of James Tiffany, Nathan Bland and Dan Hyde working overtime, Otley used the possession wisely and eventually Duncan Sayers barged over from a quick tap penalty by Brown to make it 29-12.

Exeter were then awarded a soft penalty on the Otley 22 at a scrum with Otley head and feed. Yapp kicked to the corner and No.8 Richard Baxter rumbled over to score his second try. Yapp converted to make it 36-12 after 51 minutes.

Otley continued to have a go from all areas in search of a bonus point but unfortunately fell victim of their own endeavour. Yapp picked up a loose ball on halfway and fed onto Murdoch in broken play who then added the Chiefs' sixth try.

At 41-12 with only a quarter of an hour to go, Otley dug deep and showed their resolve and fight. Right wing Xavier André, who had been breaching the Chiefs defence all afternoon, collected a mis-directed pass on halfway and outpaced Exeter's Gary Kingdom to score in the right hand corner. Shuttleworth again hit the upright with the conversion.

Otley then attempted to run the ball from their own try line but as the ball was moved into space it was knocked on in the Otley dead ball area and Yapp was able to dive on it for the try. Mark Fatialofa attempted the conversion from next to the posts but pulled it wide. Nevertheless, Exeter led 46-17 after 76 minutes.

Conceding that try was probably a blessing in disguise as it allowed Otley to return to the halfway line where they benefitted from an Exeter knock-on from the kick-off. Otley retained the ball for several phases of play in impressive fashion before Shuttleworth left the Chiefs midfield flat-footed once again to ghost through and slip the ball to the supporting Alistair Monks. Monks held his composure to draw the full-back with a pass to Danny Smith who deservedly raced in for his second and the bonus point try to cap a fine individual display. Monks converted from under the cross-bar to make the final score 46-24 to Exeter.

Every Otley player ran their blood to water at Exeter and a similar effort will be needed next weekend - that is all anybody can expect.

If Otley re-produce this form in the final week then it will give them an excellent chance of winning their last home game. Hopefully, Waterloo will also want to end their season on a high note in front of their faithful home supporters against rivals Moseley.

Exeter Chiefs: Kingdom (Staniforth 69), Murdoch, M Fatialofa, A Fatialofa (Kelly 69), Luff, Yapp (Slade 80), Barrett (Wilson 69), Parkes (Liddington 74), Blythe (Nelson 55), Liddington (Davis 55), Brown, Hanks, Walker, Willis, Baxter (capt)

Otley: Shuttleworth (capt), Andre, Dench, Mooney, Smith, Benson (Monks 69), Brown (Chivers 57), Turner (Livesey 76), Sayers, Wederall (Fear 76), Whitehead (Parr 46), Williams (Back 76)), Tiffany, Bland (Stockdale 55), Hyde

Referee: M Wilson (RFU)

MATCH STATISTICS

Exeter Chiefs 46

Tries: Baxter (2), Yapp (2), Luff, A Fatialofa, Murdoch

Cons: Yapp (4)

Pens: Yapp

Otley 24

Tries: Smith (2), Sayers, Andre

Cons: Shuttleworth, Monks

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