OTLEY 25 LONDON WELSH 17
Otley put together a familiarly robust performance against the Welshman from the capital. Standing out for Otley were hooker Mark Luffman and second-row Ian Carroll who stamped their authority on the game in all quarters.
The'Kendal bone', Nathan Bland, was again impressive with his blood and guts style of play while replacement second-row Jimmy Rule had undoubtedly his best display in the black & white of Otley. In the backs, scrum-half Chris Kendra was lively while Neil Law also had an impressive outing.
London Welsh started the brighter but the home side had the strength and the strategy to deny their visitors of any position and possession. Otley were quick to realise that the Dragons' back three of Pugh, Giraud and Swords looked susceptible in defence and Kendra put them under pressure with some accurate box-kicking down the touchline.
Otley capitalised on further mistakes when Simon Binns (who went into the game with an incredible 88.64% success rate for his place-kicking; the best in the division so far) converted penalties on 13 and 18 minutes.
Otley then had a lapse of their own when London Welsh winger Martin Giraud slipped through a weak Will Darby tackle to score in the corner. Fly-Half Paul Farmer failed to add the extras.
Otley No.8 Ed Thorpe, formerly of London Welsh, then made his mark with a pick up at the base of a scrum on half way to instigate a tremendous drive which made space for centre Neil Law to slice through Gavin Foreman's weak tackle. Although Law was felled just short of the line, the visitors' defence didn't have time to re-organise and quick ball saw Binns ghost over in the corner. Binns missed the conversion but added another penalty just before half-time to give a 14-5 scoreline.
Otley soon moved further ahead in the second-half when Law put in a cross-field kick for winger Mark Kirkby to gather and score but Binns missed the conversion from wide-out.
The visitors were then allowed back into the game and the Otley faithful were beginning to sense 'deja-vous' after the previous week's defeat to Plymouth Albion. London Welsh winger John Swords was set free on his own 22 metre line and when full-back Dan Clappison failed to deal with his kick ahead, the winger regathered and slid over near the corner. Farmer added the extras this time and London Welsh were back in it at 19-12 down.
Otley sprung back into action and re-gained some breathing space with two further penalties from Binns. However, the visitors' never-say-die attitude continued to the end and hooker Chris Ritchie was driven over in the fourth minute of injury time but it was too little too late to steal the points which were deservedly taken by the Otley side.
Otley: Clappison, Darby, Law, Whatmuff, Kirkby, Binns, Kendra, Pogson, Luffman, D Hall, Carroll, Oakes (Rule 66), Tiffany, Bland (Burke 62), Thorpe
London Welsh: Pugh, Giraud, Foreman, Ravenscroft, Swords, Farmer, Lewsey, Phillips (Cano 77), Ritchie, Ward, Collier (Eagle 23), Johnson, Mansfield, Rossieneux, Fitzgerald
Referee: N Higginson (RFU)
.MATCH STATISTICS
Otley 25
Tries: Binns, Kirkby
Pens: Binns (5)
London Welsh 17
Tries: Swords, Ritchie
Cons: Farmer
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