The hosts used the break from League rugby to rest a number of players. In the backs, Ian Shuttleworth, Paul Mooney and Guy Easterby were replaced by Robin Kitching, Kyle Dench and David McCormack respectively. Rob Whatmuff was named among the replacements having returned from 7s duty in Dubai. Paul Turner, Ryan Wederall, Oliver Hawkins and Xavier Andre all started in the forwards. James Tiffany moved across to No.8 with Matt Stockdale taking a place on the bench.

Kendal are a typically robust Cumbrian outfit who currently sit at the top of North One with an unbeaten record. Their pack of forwards soon showed their intent to take Otley on up front as they rumbled into the hosts '22. Otley's defence stood firm however and they soon worked their way into the opposition '22 as good kicking from Alistair Monks forced the errors.

Otley scored two tries from driving mauls. First, hooker Ben Steele emerged from the pile of bodies and then fellow front-rower Ryan Wederall broke away from the maul to crash over in the opposite corner. Kitching added the hardest attempt at goal to make it 12-0 to Otley after 20 minutes.

The most entertaining part of the game probably came during a pitch invasion by an exuberant brown labrador. Having beaten Blandy & Co to the breakdown, the canine invader soon engaged in a bit of contact at the ruck area by first taking a bite out of Xavier Andre's calf before moving onto the sweeter tasting Kitching. The referee immediately issued marching orders to the deviant dog who promptly raced back to its owner through the gate and onto the adjoining cricket pitch.

Kendal never really looked like breaching the Otley line but fly-half Dan Stephens did put his side on the scoreboard with a penalty and drop goal to make it 12-6 at half-time.

Otley were soon on the attack in the second period. Following good work by the forwards, the ball was fed to the left where Monks switched the ball back inside to Steve Parsons who slipped through the gap to score. Kitching converted and Otley led 19-6 after 45 minutes.

With the pitch becoming increasingly sticky under foot both sides were limited to kicking for position and trying to force the error - which inevitably came in abundance.

Another strange moment then occured when Kendal indicated to go for a goal when awarded a penalty 10 metres inside their own half. While Stephens had been striking the ball well in difficult conditions, this was surely well out of his range! Stephens’ "attempt" landed just over the halfway line in midfield in a bizarre attempt to set up an attack.

Both sides exchanged penalties before Andre, now fully recovered from being savaged by the chocolate lab, broke away with a powerful pacy run to score under the posts. Kitching added the extras and the referee brought a much-heralded end to proceedings.

Otley look forward to returning to League action next weekend with a trip to face fellow promotion candidates Blackheath.

Otley: Kitching; Parsons, Buchanan, Dench, Smith; Monks, McCormack; Turner (Fullman 75), Steele (Trethewey 70); Snowball, Hawkins; Bland, Andre, Tiffany

MATCH STATISTICS

Otley 29

Tries: Steele, Wederall, Parsons, Andre

Cons: Kitching (3)

Pens: Kitching

Kendal 9

Pens: Stephens (2)

DGs: Stephens

Click here for photos of the match courtesy of Paul Barrett