Nottingham 25

Otley 38

OTLEY again produced some scintillating rugby as they swept their way to joint top of the table albeit the count of six tries to three did not entirely satisfy coach Peter Clegg who intimated that he would like to see more ball retention. This would have resulted in great embarassment for the home side, two of whose tries came from capricious bounces and the third was a penalty try.

An achilles injury sustained against Orrell ruled out Howard Parr and with Paul Williams and Glen Wilson still unfit Scott Connor was pushed into the second row but he took a nasty knock on the head at the kick-off and after spending time in the blood bin finally gave way to Richard Pike at half-time.

Nottingham were rather surprised to gain promotion last season and attempted, without any luck, to gain a few periphery players from Leicester but they still aspire to their former greatness and they were expecting a hard encounter for their opening home game and there were no surprises there.

They were handed a modicum of help when they were given advantage of a stiff breeze, which expired by half-time, and of which they made full use. Fly-half Neil Stenhouse proved to be extremely effective with the boot, as early as the second minute pushing Otley back into their 22 with a 60m penalty kick.

The powerful Otley centres were soon in evidence. Robert Whatmuff broke through to put winger Karl Dench away down the right and he was brought down hard just short of the line with the result that his tackler was to take no further part in the game.

Turnovers were proving costly as Stenhouse settled to his job but the breakthrough came on 17 minutes when, after another flowing attack was halted, the forwards took over and prop Kris Fullman broke away to charge ten metres to the line.

The wind defeated the conversion and Stenhouse indicated the strength when he attempted a penalty from his own half which just missed. After Ed Thorpe was yellow carded for handling in the ruck Otley allowed No 8 Easter to steal their throw and break into their 22, conceding a penalty which this time was successful.

Another deep kick had Otley in trouble and Nottingham retrieved the ball for the fly half to put up a kick to the corner which bounced high and into the arms of winger Will Logan who finished off to put the home side into a lead which was soon extended with a neat drop goal. Otley went straight back upfield and a penalty into the corner set up a drive for Justin Wring to crash over.

The re-start was kicked deep and once again was not covered and replacement Warren Coles was able to fly kick forward, collect and dive over for Wring to crash over.

Two minutes after the break Otley were back in contention, a great forward drive, ball out to full-back Ian Shuttleworth coming up the middle, and handing on to Whatmuff and he was in for Simon Binns to convert and it was a Whatmuff and Wasaile Sovatabua combination which set up the position for Binns to cut inside and go over at the posts and convert.

Desperate defence near the corner flag was not to Mr Wilson's liking so a penalty try was awarded, the conversion cutting the lead to a single point but Otley were in full stride and James Tiffany finished off a deft blind-side move and Shuttleworth denied Nottingham a bonus point when he raced up outside Sovatabua to cross in the corner. Binns converted both tries.

There will be a tougher test at Cross Green on Saturday when a strong Bedford side provide th

Otley.- Shuttleworth; Dench, Whatmuff (Taylor 75), Law (Mooney 59), Sovatabua; Binns, Scully (Brown 59); Wring, Sayers (Luffman 59), Fullman, Oakes, Connor (Pike 6-20-40), Tiffany, Bland, Thorpe.

On Saturday Otley entertain Bedford and will of course be without the injured Howard Parr. Otley will select from:

I Shuttleworth, K Dench, R Whatmuff, N Law, W Sovatabua, P Mooney, N Taylor, S Binns, D Scully, A Brown, J Wring, M Luffman, K Fullman, J Oakes, I Carroll, J Tiffany, N Bland, E Thorpe, R Pike, D Sayers, S Trethewey, B Fear, G Wilson.

Saracens (at Bradford and Bingley, meet at 1.15 pm) from: R Duckett, R Leighton, S Gardner, J Henry, M Cook, L Clark, S Maggipinto, P Howell, S Wilson, S Reid, D Nulty, A Thompson, C Booth, S Tandy, C Hanogue, C Minchella, R Grey, R Smith, M Keeler, T Woods, M Allewell, M Nixon, S Benzefal, S Henry.