Otley RUFC
Otley had too much power for lowly Henley
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| Otley's Xavier Andre |
Henley 10 Otley 29
Despite having skipper Ian Shuttleworth side-lined for 13 minutes in the first-half, for a blood injury which entailed Kyle Dench moving from full-back to fly-half, and the versatile Dave McCormack coming off the bench to fill his place, Otley always had the upperhand over a side struggling against relegation.
Although having the third- best defensive record in the division, their attacking stats are by far the worst but they did manage a try in the dying minutes.
They were first on the scoresheet when centre Dan-ny Wells, having missed a chance in the first minute, made no mistake six minutes later with a penalty under the posts but a fine kick from a penalty on halfway by Robin Kitching gave Otley a five metre line-out. Dan Hyde was driven over and Kitching radually taking control and when the referee allowed advantage from a knock-on, the ball was swept wide, Dench coming into the line to make the break before sending Kitching on a 25 metre run to the corner.
He swept away would-be tacklers en route and then converted.
Just before the break Henley knocked-on with the line open, their only threat of the first-half.
Staying on the pitch at half-time, Otley were keyed up when the home side took the field but it was 15 minutes before they increased the lead.
Now in complete control in the forwards, a long period of ball retention ended when replacement back row Xavier Andre broke off a maul to steal over and the bonus try quickly followed.
Well-controlled rucking and driving had Howard Parr over, and the scenario was repeated ten minutes later with the second-rower claiming a second touchdown but Kitching's kicking prowess deserted him in the second-half.
A determined effort from the home pack, following a penalty into the corner, led to substitute hooker Dinos Alexopolous being driven over with just three minutes remaining. Lamb kicked the conversion but a much-needed bonus point was a distant hope.
10:47am Monday 25th February 2008
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