Old Otliensians 12 Bramley Phoenix 21

OTLIENSIANS slipped to their second-successive defeat after losing their way in the second half at Chaffers Field.

They allowed a slender 7-0 half-time lead to disappear as Bramley ran in three converted tries to take the win

It was the visitors who applied the early pressure with their forwards and backs linking well to test the home defence.

Gradually Otliensians came into the game but despite some threatening attacks from

centres Dom Oddy and Luke Cowdell, poor handling spoilt some promising work.

Lee O’Donnell put in some forceful drives and props Tom Twist and Ross Nichols were on hand to maintain the momentum.

The scrums were fairly even, but home ball was often untidy and stand-in scrum half Will Foster was given a tough time.

For their part Bramley enjoyed plenty of clean possession and their backs handled and backed up well with speed and determination to keep the home defence busy.

When Otliensians attacked they relied on the driving play of forwards Toby Barltrop, Ben Smith and flanker Ollie Cooper.

After a few close calls, Foster popped the ball up to prop Ross Nichols who barged his way over halfway out with Kristian Keinhorst adding the conversion.

In the second half props Greg Jones and Josh Dysonwere introduced and added a bit of extra stability to the scrums, but ‘the passing was laboured and the backs made little headway against a well-organised defence.

Bramley gained good field position through a penalty and some good drives from their pack set up play near the home line. Quickly re-cycled ball and slick passing produced a gap which they happily took advantage of to score near the posts. The conversion levelled the score at 7-7.

A driving maul by the visitors tied in the home defence and the Bramley scrum half scampered round to go in unopposed for a converted try to give them the lead.

Otliensians came back strongly and at last managed to get the back line moving at pace. Centre Luke Cowdell drew his man and put winger Declan Jackson away to dive over in the corner. The conversion failed leaving the visitors with a slender 14-12 lead.

Sensing they were now in with a chance of snatching the lead back, the hosts tried hard to move the ball wide, but too often speed off the line in defence by the visitors and careless handling meant promising moves broke down.

Jackson was again given a chance down the wing, using his pace to round defenders and dive over in the corner, only to see play called back for a foot in touch.

Both sides continued to mount attacks, but safe hands and good offloading gave the visitors the edge as they continued to pose threats.

In what appeared to be a fairly innocuous move up the right, the visitors spread the ball wide with the hesitant home defence caught flat-footed as the Bramley winger outpaced the cover to score wide out. A good conversion stretched their lead to 21-12 with just four minutes to go.

Otliensians kept battling away but couldn't find the scores they needed.