National League Two North: Leicester Lions 38 Otley 13

OTLEY went to Westleigh Park in the hope that they would finally tame the Lions, but ended up being subdued themselves.

The visitors have never beaten the Lions away, but, playing against the wind, they played some attractive rugby in the first ten minutes.

However, it was the hosts who scored first.

A good pass from Jon Boden gave Ian Smith a run-in under the posts after 12 minutes, with James Morgan adding the conversion.

The home team went over again five minutes later, having stretched Otley across the park, Drew Rudkin scoring and Boden adding the conversion.

Otley continued to have their moments.

However, having got into the Lions 22, a loose pass was intercepted and put the visitors back into their own half.

But Otley's persistence finally paid off just after the half-hour mark when, with a penalty in their pocket, Freddie Watson was on the end of a powerful scrum deep in the Lions 22, with Joe Rowntree adding the conversion.

Just before half-time, the Lions No 8 Morgan went through to score and convert, making the interval score 21-7.

Otley put themselves under pressure when they failed to gather the restart, eventually giving away a penalty that was put into the corner.

The visitors survived that attack, and after 45 minutes were awarded their own penalty when the Lions came in at the side, Rowntree stepping up to reduce the deficit.

The Otley forwards were on top of the Lions pack, although decisions did not always go with them.

After another knock-on by the hosts, Otley were penalised, this time for apparently wheeling the scrum.

Nevertheless, a series of errors gave Otley the impetus again, and when the Lions gave away another penalty, Rowntree put the ball through the posts.

He could have had a third after the Lions kicked the restart straight out, and then gave a penalty at the centre-spot scrum.

With the wind, he could have had the length, but after discussion he opted to go for the line and overcooked it.

This time it was Otley's turn to be penalised at the scrum, and the league top scorer Devon Constant was straight through but was just held up over the line by the retreating defence.

Max Johnson, who returned to the Otley side, continued to cause the hosts problems but overall Otley could not find a way to win, despite their replacements keeping the momentum up.

The game then slipped away as a second try from Morgan and two from Henry Clement put any hopes of a revival beyond the visitors.