Sedgley Park 20 Otley 43

It was either an inspirational team talk, changes in personnel or a combination of both but Otley were unrecognisable as they turned from playing like a team of strangers in the first half into a confident unit sweeping all before them.

True enough they started well, gaining the ball from their kick-off and calmly and forcibly pressing on the home line for three minutes before a near-certain try went begging due to a knock-on.

But in the seventh minute, Simon Binns kicked his first penalty from 24 metres and four minutes later added a second with a fine strike into the wind from the 40-metre line.

It was then that Sedgley Park's No 10 Phil Jones began to make his presence felt. A huge penalty kick created a five-metre line-out and two deft kicks to the corners almost brought tries.

However the Otley midfield had moved offside under the posts and Jones kicked the penalty.

Binns quickly added his third penalty but having missed many tackles yet covering well, they allowed Jones to embark on a curving run from a scrum on halfway to finish under the posts, the conversion edging Tigers ahead.

With tempers fraying, a brief tussle was curtailed with Paul Williams and his assailant receiving yellow cards.

Jones was wide with a kick from 50 metres but Otley were split open when full back Arno de Jeger came into the line to go over, Jones converting.

Just before Williams returned, Dan Hyde was yellow-carded and when Jones kicked a 42nd-minute penalty, the Otley supporters were expecting the worst.

But Binns eased the pain with a penalty right on half-time.

Jones failed with two penalty attempts in the second half and this marked the renaissance as Binns barked out orders and pinned back the opposition with a succession of fine touch kicks.

He linked well with No 8 Maifea Maifea, who punched big holes in the home defence and with replacement hooker Duncan Sayers firing up the pack, the revival was on.

Sayers provided the ball for the first try, giving Steve Par-sons a run at the corner, and three minutes later replacement winger Xavier Andre gathered a kick ahead by Hyde, Maifea crashing over.

Hyde was on hand to finish off when Danny Smith, having moved to full back, dodged through, and Parsons claimed his second try, taking a deft reverse pass from Binns to go over, the latter converting.