Pertemps Bees 12 Otley 33

Otley eased up to eighth in National League One by eclipsing a Birmingham side who were high on ambition but who were never able to take advantage in the first half.

The hosts had the benefit of the wind then on a day of increasingly wet conditions.

Otley had not forgotten, having failed to overtake a 22-7 deficit back in November at Cross Green, and, apart from fly half Tim Walsh missing a simple penalty after 25 minutes, they kept their opponents at arms length with tremendous tackling which took its toll as the game progressed.

The visiting forwards were on top of their game with textbook rolling mauls in defence and attack, and the Bees also had a torrid time in the scrum while the line-outs were rock solid, with the exception of a couple five metres out.

The only way forward for the Bees was by running, but they found the proverbial brick wall every time.

Otley's forward superiority was soon in evidence when a penalty was put into the corner to instigate the drive which was momentarily halted, Jason Oakes peeling off to crash over after just five minutes.

But they were unable to improve that as they were repeatedly pushed back to their 22 as the home side made good use of the wind, and it was the tenth minute of added time before there was any advance.

Robert Whatmuff had to leave the field for stitches to his head in the 44th minute, which brought on Ian Shuttleworth, who has been sidelined with a hamstring injury. But he had to wait five minutes while Bees flanker Cae Trayhern had on-field treatment for a neck injury.

Taking up a defensive position on his own line as Otley were under siege, the ball suddenly popped up to Shuttleworth following a stunning tackle from an Otley defender and he snapped it up to break away, only to realise there was 100 metres to go and he had a man in hot pursuit.

However, he made the journey and Robin Kitching converted from wide out.

Otley made their supremacy count after the break with tries from replacement Andy Brown and Mark Luffman. Kitching converted and added three penalties but the Bees managed a couple of late scores from Paul Knight and Aaron Taakarangi.