Otley lose tough battle at home

THE elation shown by the Birmingham/Solihull players who raised their arms aloft at the final whistle was evidence enough that they were delighted and relieved to come away from Cross Green with a victory.

Both newly promoted clubs were in need of a victory, especially Otley, who generally do not give much away on their home ground.

Birmingham are rightly proud of their strong pack but for the first 20 minutes they had to give second best for after being driven back from the kick-off they never got near the half-way line for 20 minutes.

Pushed and turned in the scrum, beaten in the line-out, they were chasing tigers but throughout this period they tackled like demons, repelling attackers with terrifying force and it was to take effect as the game wore on.

There was torrential rain for an hour before the game began, fortunately easing throughout play, but it produced a clinging surface.

It soon became obvious that the kick through would be a vital weapon and home scrum-half Andy Brown used this with precision to keep turning the visitors.

It was from such a kick that full-back Jim Quantrill had to run the ball into touch near his line.

The Otley drive for the line ended with a knock-on but relief was short lived as the ball was driven back from the line-out.

This time Otley were penalised for holding on and so it continued until, on 20 minutes, centre Martin Roberts was caught on the wrong side of a maul and the usually sure-footed James Lofthouse was called up to take a straightforward kick at goal which he duly missed.

Otley finally gained from their ascendancy when Brown chipped high for the corner and winger Mark Kirkby won the race for the touchdown.

The re-start got Birmingham into the Otley half and it was the turn of the hosts to feel the pressure but the story was the same.

The defence was sound and it was the turn of marksman Steve Gough to send a penalty kick on the '22 wide.

However, he made amends in the 36th minute when he took on a penalty from fully 40m and made no mistake.

Birmingham carried on where they left off and found Mr Grasshof happy with their old-fashioned driving mauls, and so put them to effective use.

This had the Otley defence in disarray but they managed to survive and began to bring their backs more into the action.

When winger Ryan Duckett was pulled down on the line a penalty was awarded when he was prevented from releasing.

Left-footed kicker Dan Clappison, filling in at full-back, was given a chance but his effort also was wide.

A high kick from Quantrill caused havoc in the Otley defence and Birmingham were able to launch an attack which led to number seven Hese Fakatou going over and amazingly the conversion was missed.

With four minutes remaining Otley were given the penalty near the posts their supporters were craving, but as Lofthouse swung his foot the ball fell off the tee and Birmingham were home and figuratively speaking, dry.

There will be no games at Cross Green on Saturday.

All Junior matches kare off to enable to players to travel to watch the senior side at Leicester in the Tetleys Bitter Cup match.

Preston Grasshoppers 'A'...13 Otley Saracens...7

PRESTON Grasshoppers always have great strength in depth and Saracens knew that they would have a battle on their hands.

The conditions called for old heads and strength and Saracens with a number of late changes were short of both.

Preston had first use of the elements which they put to good use and soon took the lead with a penalty.

Saracens young front row of Richard Bush, Scott Poole and Chris Burns were working hard to hold their own but Grasshoppers had the edge in the line-outs and in the driving mauls.

Otley were defending well but the cover was eventually breached and Preston scored to make it 8-0 at half-time.

Saracens were happy with this deficit with the elements in their favour in the second-half but they had difficulty in maintaining continuity on the restart and they were not helped when the injury jinx struck again and Richard Leighton had to leave the field with a leg injury.

Preston took full advantage to score a breakaway try to stretch the lead but as play moved into the last quarter Saracens started to build pressure and it was Hoppers turn to defend.

With ten minutes to go Will Darby scored a superb try when he got the ball just inside his own half and used his pace to outflank the cover and score. Alastair Monks added the conversion.

Saracens went all out now and in the final minutes nearly scored the vital try when good handling and support play set up Jonathan Skurr but he was held short of the line and was just prevented from getting the ball away.

This was a good team effort from a much changed side with Peter Wright working hard at scrum-half in difficult conditions.

Grasshoppers Thirds...0 Otley Tongans ...5

TONGANS made it three Merit table wins out of three with a gutsy performance at Preston.

On a pitch that had standing water in parts it was apparent that it was going to be a forward game, so much so that when Tongans lost Tim Westlake-Bryant in the game with an injury, skipper Nick Girling opted to keep his eight-man pack.

The pack responded to his lead making yards from short passing and support and they were stopped short on a number of occasions by strong Hoppers' defence to keep it to 0-0 at half-time.

In the second half Hoppers brought on three replacements and this seemed to give them the edge for a time but Tongans tackled furiously.

They gradually worked their way into the home '22 and after a number of drives at the line the ball was moved quickly to Craig Jackson and he raced over in the corner for the only score of the game.

All eight forwards played their hearts out for the whole 80 minutes and scrum-half Matty Birch had another good game in tricky conditions.

Adam Richards, who came in as a late replacement, had a sound game at full-back but overall it was a great team effort as Tongans improve with every game.

Otley Viscounts ...20 Aireborough Dragons...3

VISCOUNTS had a comfortable win over Aireborough Dragons in heavy conditions.

Mark Duxbury scored a brace of tries when he powered over following strong play by the pack.

Mark Jarvis added a third on the end of a good handling move and hooker Mike Peel scored the last from a good forward drive.

Jamie Chappell couldn't convert any of the tries in the tricky conditions whilst Aireborough kicked a penalty.