Scoreline is unfair on Otley at bogey opponents (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Scoreline is unfair on Otley at bogey opponents

6:55pm Sunday 7th December 2008 in Sport

Rotherham Titans 42, Otley 13

Otley’s hopes of building on their back-to-back wins in their efforts to ease their way up the National League One table were dashed yesterday by Rotherham Titans - who are themselves desperate to avoid the heavily-populated fight to be no lower than 11th when the hour of reckoning comes - unless the RFU have another re-think about the formation of the 'Championship'.

Rotherham has never been a happy hunting ground for Otley but the scoreline - and six tries to one - did not reflect the good work done by the West Yorkshire men, the difference being in the sharp finishing of the home side.

A prime example came early in the second-half where, with Otley having just gone 28-13 down, former Cross Green back row Jon Skurr seized upon a pass from Dan Hyde as he tried to cope with a badly-disrupted scrum near the line to stroll over for his second try.

Otley then spent the next ten minutes hammering the Rotherham line without reward.

There was an early flurry of scoring, former Cleckheaton scrum half Jonny West kicking a penalty after just three minutes only for Tom Rhodes to level within a minute.

The Titans surged ahead with tries from winger Errie Claassens and Skurr, interspersed with a second penalty from West, when centre Paul Mooney was given a yellow card, before being pulled back with a touch-down from No 7 Jacob Rowan, which was converted by Rhodes.

The Otley forwards were playing with grim determination but the home defence was secure and they went further ahead when centre Chris Briers found a way through for West to convert.

A penalty from Rhodes kept Otley in the game at the break but Otley could ill afford the early try they leaked after the restart, though they managed to achieve parity in the exchanges until the 65th minute when a lost line-out was their undoing.

Centre Nick Buckley made the initial break to put Claassens away, the winger turning the ball inside for fly half Michael Whitehead to go in at the posts, West converting.

The final score came five minutes into added time when full back Brad Hunt was given an overlap, Whitehead stepping up to take the conversion, but the scoreline was an unfair reflection on Otley’s contribution to the game.