Otley made a few changes to the side from the previous week's demolition of Halifax. With Adam Greendale recalled by Leeds Carnegie, Ian Shuttleworth moved up to fly-half with Rob Kitching coming in at full-back. Steve Parsons made a welcomed return on the right wing with Kyle Dench moving into the centres. Paul Mooney returned with a place on the bench having been rested the previous weekend.
In the forwards, Paul Turner started at loose-head prop with Steve Trethewey ruled out by illness. Justin "The Bull" Wring took a place on the bench in another welcomed return to action following an injury-plagued time last season. Xavier Andre was rested from the back-row allowing Nathan Bland to start at openside.
Scrum-half Dave McCormack made his 1st team debut for the club with a place among the replacements.
Southend started the game confidently with the clear intent of moving the ball across the backline irrespective of field position. Indeed, it soon became apparent that this was going to be the stiffest test that Otley had faced to date.
Poor discipline gifted Southend four penalty shots at goal in the first 15 minutes but their goalkicking left winger Andrew Frost was only successful with one of them to give his side a 0-3 lead. Things also took a turn for the worse when Otley centre Kyle Dench was sin-binned for entering a ruck from the side.
When Otley managed to keep hold of possession it was clear that they were going to pose problems for a Southend defence that had leaked points in its previous 5 games.
Rob Kitching landed a well-stuck penalty to level the scores before hard-running centre Rob Whatmuff scored a fine try. From a line-out 30 metres out, Whatmuff timed his run to perfection before using brute strength to charge through 2 attempted tackles. He then outpaced the covering defence to score to the right of the posts. Kitching converted to make it 10-3 and Otley had highlighted the direct play that was needed to take the game away from the visitors.
Otley should have added to their lead but handling errors and indiscipline thwarted their efforts. None so more than when an Otley maul runmbled towards the Southend line only for a penalty to be given away much to the relief of the men from Essex.
Southend cleared the lines and scored their only try of the match on the stroke of half-time. With play on half-way, Samoan centre Faapulou Soolefai evaded several attempted tackles before finding fly-half Daffyd Lewis in support for a clear run to the line. Frost's kicking form continued to elude him but Southend had a 10-11 half-time lead.
With coach Mark Luffman's words ringing in their ears, Otley returned for the second half in determined fashion and proceeded to score 27 unanswered points in the second period.
It did not take long for Otley to re-gain the lead when Kitching landed his second penalty of the afternoon to make it 13-11. Southend's own indiscipline finally caught up with them when they had 2 players sin-binned which signalled the start of Otley's raids.
Burly right winger Steve Parsons demonstrated all his power and pace to make a deep in-road into the Southend '22 before fly-half Shuttleworth and hooker Phil Nilsen made runs towards the uprights. The ball was recycled quickly and a wide pass from Shuttleworth was well collected by left winger Danny Smith who jinked through the stretched defence to score next to the posts. Kitching converted and Otley led 20-11.
Kitching kicked his third penalty to make it 23-11 after 60 minutes but Otley were reduced to 14 men after 63 minutes when Kris Fullman received a red card for foul play.
At the same time, Paul Turner was being helped from the pitch with a head injury so Justin Wring entered the fray for some uncontested scrummaging much to the Bull's dismay!
From the first such scrummage, No.8 Dan Hyde broke quickly from the scrum 20 yards out and was pulled down just short. The ball was then popped to second-row Paul Williams on the blindside who barged his way over the line with 2 defenders clinging to his back. Kitching converted magnificently from the touchline to make it 30-11 to Otley after 67 minutes.
Otley scored the 4th "bonus point" try in the latter stages as Southend chased the game. Centre Kyle Dench hacked on a loose ball on halfway and as he raced after the ball with the Southend hooker, Smith came from the clouds to collect the bouncing ball and dive over next to the posts. Kitching added the conversion to give himself a 100% kicking strike-rate and 17 point haul for the afternoon.
The final whistle sounded soon after and Otley had secured a 37-11 win. They now look forward to the next challenge which is an away trip to Manchester who currently sit at the top of the table (2 points ahead of ourselves) having played 6 games to our 5.Otley: Kitching; Parsons, Whatmuff, Dench (Mooney 70), Smith; Shuttleworth, Easterby (McCormack 70); Turner (Wring 65), Nilsen (Sayers 70), Fullman; Snowball, Williams; Stockdale, Bland, Hyde
Southend: C Green; Hoult, Harvey, Soolefai, Frost; Lewis, Powell; Williams, Pay, Smith; McClintock, Rosam; Johnson, Gill, Connors
Referee: K Evans (RFU)
MATCH STATISTICS
Otley 37
Tries: Smith (2), Whatmuff, Williams
Cons: Kitching (4)
Pens: Kitching (3)
Southend 11
Tries: Lewis
Pens: Frost (2)
Click here for photos of the match taken by Paul Barrett
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