Moseley 30

Otley 19

THE late re-scheduling of this game caught Otley on the hop. The home team can choose to play on either a Saturday or Sunday with Friday night being by agreement. Moseley chose Sunday.

Simon Binns had arranged to fly out on holiday on Sunday so missed this game while Phil Greaves and Ian Shuttleworth broke down after having a run out with the Saracens on Saturday.

Nathan Bland joined them on the injured list and Andy Brown was to follow after only 20 minutes on the field. He played for the Saracens on Saturday and in this game had to come on for Chris Kendra soon after the break.

Colt Leon Clark made his first team debut on the wing which necessitated moving Will Darby to full-back with Simon Hawkins taking over at fly-half and Dan Clappison moving to scrum-half.

Otley's problems were mounting and Robert Whatmuff was sidelined with a sternum injury sustained when he touched down in the 36th minute. He was replaced by Mark Billington and then near the end of the game Otley's problems were compounded when Mark Kirkby went off with a ligament tear. Prop Peter Hall came on to demonstrate his talents on the wing.

All this obviously disrupted a side which had been expected to overcome lowly, dispirited Moseley. The Otley forwards looked strong and confident after accounting for London Welsh the previous week but it was the home side who began strongly causing all sorts of problems and Otley were lucky that they survived conceding just a penalty from fly-half Greg McDonald.

Otley began to show their rucking and driving ability only for Clappison to miss a chance to equalise and it was not until the 32nd minute that they got onto the scoreboard. A kick down the line was cleverly kept in play and after the forwards had made good ground the ball was slipped to Kirkby. He made good ground before handing on to Neil Law who left Whatmuff with a clear run in.

Clappison converted and it was anticipated that Otley would now settle down but a straightforward move from a static position had them all at sea and full-back James Hinkins joined the line to run in unopposed and McDonald converted.

More penalty chances went begging but there was no panic until the Otley second-half re-start failed to carry the required ten metres and Moseley broke away from the resulting scrum. They cut a swathe through an unhappy defence and No 7 Tom McIntosh strolled over giving McDonald a simple conversion.

Three minutes later it was the turn of winger Andy Gray to benefit from poor one on one tackling to score taking the game well out of Otley's reach.

Eventually the Otley pack began to operate somewhere approaching their capabilities and after laying siege to the home line prop David Hall drove over for Clappison to convert. Another McDonald penalty was a setback Otley could have done without.

As Otley began to exert pressure the home side resorted to kicking downfield and when McDonald badly sliced a kick the ball went almost parallel to the goalline and was certainly heading for touch but it bounced a metre short and up into the air for winger Geoff Gregory to gather in his stride and race 50 metres to score in the corner.

Now 30-14 down and with ten minutes remaining Otley began to take charge and were rather unlucky not to be given a penalty try as a desperate Moseley defence conceded four penalties in quick succession pulling down as Otley strove to drive over. Their line eventually fell when Darby came up to score wide out.

This was not one of Otley's better days but they now have a blank week and the rest will give some of their players time to recover.

The next game is at home to Plymouth Albion on Saturday, December 7.

Moseley: Hinkins, Gregory, Brading, Cox, Gray, McDonald, Worsley (Thomas 9), Clarke, Protherough, Buxton, Hadley, Stott (Hunt 21), McIntosh, Mellors, Evans

Otley: Hawkins, Darby, Law, Whatmuff (Billington 36), Kirkby (P Hall 77), Clappison, Kendra (Brown 47, Clarke 67), Pogson, Sayers (Luffman 47), D Hall (Hazelton 62), I Carroll, J Oakes, Rule, Tiffany, Thorpe (Holmes 62).

Referee: N Williams (RFU).