National League Two North: Otley 42 Luctonians 22

TOM Hodson came to Otley because he liked their philosophy, and the arrangement is working well for both parties.

The 26-year-old revelled in the open spaces afforded to him by playing at full back and bagged a hat-trick of tries to help his team recover from a sluggish start and notch a convincing five-point victory.

Hodson, who mainly played union as a youngster before switching codes to play for Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Under-20s and Doncaster and Featherstone Rovers seniors, said: "Otley play the sort of rugby that I want to play, and that is why I came here.

"Relationships take time but we are building partnerships with the backs and the forwards, and this performance was on a par with our win over Tynedale last month and was one of our best of the season.

"But we made a slow start again and that is something that we will have to address, although it doesn't make us downhearted."

On an afternoon when the trees were in their autumnal finery, Luctonians took the lead in only the third minute after Otley conceded a penalty which was kicked to the corner.

The visitors from Herefordshire then won the line-out in front of the burger stand and employed a catch and drive for scrum half Louis Silver to touch down, and he added three points in the 13th minute when another catch-and-drive attack resulted in a penalty.

Apart from an attack in which left winger Richard Bannister had figured prominently, Otley had showed little, but that all changed in the 15th minute when No 8 Freddie Watson broke away for scrum half Max Johnson to score.

Hodson added a fine conversion, but Luctonians again failed to shackle Otley skipper Watson three minutes later, fly half Nick Coupland's grubber kick to the left-hand corner being hacked on by the pacy Hodson, who gathered the ball and ran beneath the posts to make his conversion simple.

Bannister threatened again on the left, fellow winger James Wood failed to pick up a pass off his toes and Hodson missed a relatively straightforward 27th-minute penalty, but the latter made amends a minute later when a searing change of pace took him past a defender on the left and the full back had the strength and footwork to make the line and convert.

Hodson's hat-trick try wasn't long in coming either as centre James White's break and long pass gave the wiry full back enough space and time to again make the line, his strength being a useful asset this time around.

With the four-try bonus point in the bag, Hodson nailed the conversion to make the score 28-8, although Otley needed stern and prolonged defence to keep that margin intact up to the interval.

Luctonians started the second half like some teacups had been thrown around their dressing room, and home lock Simon Willet was spoken to by referee Callum Sharp during this period of great continuity by the visitors.

However, Willet's next involvement was to score Otley's fifth try in the 49th minute after the hosts had pinched the ball to leave Luctonians short of cover on their left-hand side, Wood making good ground up the touchline in the build up.

A tap and go by Silver led to his opposite number Johnson being sin-binned for interference three minutes later, and Luctonians capitalised with a 54th-minute try by replacement Owen Davies following another penalty that was kicked for touch deep in Otley territory.

Silver converted but they were behind their posts again eight minutes later after conceding a penalty try which Hodson converted.

As the game drew to a close, Otley replacement Ben Steele was sin-binned for a high tackle a matter of seconds after coming on (backs coach Charlie Maunder's insistence that he was only on the field for 33 seconds seemed a bit harsh), and the visitors cashed in with a try by lock Piers Morell to which Silver added the conversion.

Otley thus consolidated their ninth place and narrowed the gap on Luctonians, who are eighth, to a point.