Otley 25 London Welsh 17 WITH the forwards once more on rampaging form Otley took command of this game early on and, for once, maintained their superiority to the end. This was except for a lapse in the final minute when London Welsh stole a try which was to distort the final score.

It was bound to take time for the new faces to find their feet and on Saturday's showing that is Otley 25

London Welsh 17

now happening. Kris Kendra at scrum-half for the injured Andy Brown has had the least opportunities but he was proving himself in tune with his pack who drove and rucked superbly. In the pack Nathan Bland was voted Man-of-the-Match while Jason Oakes and Mark Luffman had their best games for the club so far.

One must not overlook the contribution of the evergreen Ian Carroll who appears to get better each year, such is his massive personality on the field.

In the backs Neil Law, operating at centre, illustrated that he is settling back into Rugby Union. He created space for Simon Binns to slip over and put in a superb kick to the corner for Mark Kirkby to score. He almost repeated the move but just put too much on the ball.

London Welsh left Cross Green last season on the end of a good hiding and were under the impression that they could reverse the score on this occasion. If anything they were more soundly beaten which earned them the wrath of their coach after the game. He kept them on the pitch for fully ten minutes to ensure that they had got his message.

They did start well, catching Otley unawares but after fly-half Paul Farmer missed a second minute penalty they saw little more of the opposition territory spending most of the time defending desperately and being drawn into indiscretions for which they were to pay dearly because Binns was on cracking form. His first penalty came on 13 minutes after a drive was pulled down and after Kendra had hoisted a couple of kicks from the base of the action, which were both knocked on, taking Otley to the visitors' 22 he got his second chance from the identical spot.

Another kick from Kendra was just too deep and the return forced Dan Clappison to find a hasty touch from where Welsh instigated a drive before releasing the ball and winger Martin Giraud, more a Huguenot emigre than a Celtic exile, found his way through to the corner.

The reply came quickly when ex-London Welsh No 8 Ed Thorpe picked up at the base of a scrum to start a well supported drive which was carried on by Law and when he was held the ball went inside to Binns who waltzed over and then converted. He added a further penalty to take Otley into the break 14-5 ahead.

This was soon extended when Law put in his cross kick for Kirkby who had two men to beat to make the line but it proved no problem.

The exiles replied with a soft try when winger John Swords followed up a kick which was not properly dealt with and he was able to pick up and stroll in under the posts for Farmer to convert.

It was left to Binns to drive home the domination of his forwards adding two more penalties to climb back into the comfort zone but it came as a surprise when the visitors drove over in the fourth and final minute of added on time. This followed a penalty kicked into the home 22 and hooker Chris Ritchie rose with the ball.

This weekend Otley's game has been moved to Sunday when they travel to take on bottom club Moseley and they will be hoping to move further up the table with another victory before having a Saturday off, having failed to advance in the Powergen Cup.

JOHN FINCH