Otley 23 London Scottish 34 02/010/2010

After last year’s thrilling encounter we were all looking forward to the visit of London Scottish to Cross Green. Yesterday, Scottish arrived on time, with a number of visiting fans, but with no bagpiper; even the most musical of Otley fans were not entirely inconsolable!

Otley made a few changes from the team that gained a bonus point away to Blackheath. Nelson came back in at stand-off, with Manupena moving to the centre. Twomey was restored to the starting line-up and Jimmy Kleinhorst was selected at full back for his first match for the club.

Otley were in trouble straight from the kick off, conceding a penalty for crossing. Scottish kicked the ball deep into touch, won the ensuing line out cleanly, set up a rolling maul and drove over the line for a try in  the first minute. The conversion attempt failed, but Otley were immediately 5-0 in arrears.

The Otley players kept their heads up and got straight back into the game. After a few minutes of end-to-end rugby, Otley started to exert the greater pressure. Scottish resorted to camping  offside to try to keep Otley at bay and in the 8th minute the referee awarded Otley a penalty inside their opponents 22 metre area. Manupenu stepped up and calmly scored the penalty goal and so the defecit was cut to 3-5.

For the next ten minutes, Otley put Scottish under continuous pressure. A good move between Depledge and Twomey ended in a neat chip and chase, but the ball rolled over the dead ball line and Scottish relieved the immediate danger. However, Otley continued to pin Scottish down in their own 22 metre area with well organised defence and powerful tackling. Otley regained the ball and a good run from Keinhorst put them back near the Scottish line. A grubber kick towards the left-hand corner was a little too strong and found touch. Scottish won the line out but the defence’s clearance kick was charged down. Otley recycled the ball from the ensuing ruck. A kick to the left wing was cleanly gathered at speed by Curtis Wilson who then changed the direction of the attack towards the right. The ball was moved sweetly over to James Twomey on the right wing and he took his chance well to force his way over for a good try. The difficult conversion attempt was missed, but Otley took the lead at 8-5 after 18 minutes play.

The ball was regained by Scottish at the kick off and they forced a ruck near the Otley try line. Scottish moved the ball at pace and ran at a static Otley defence. Feeble tackling let Otley down as Scottish went over for an uncomfortably easy try. The kick at goal was successful and Scottish were back in the lead at 12-8.

London Scottish dominated the rest of the first half.  Otley’s defence looked decidedly disorganised in the face of strong Scottish pressure. Two more tries were conceded, both of them converted and at the half-time break, Otley were losing 26-8.

At this stage there seemed to be three failings causing Otley’s impending downfall. First, there was poor defensive alignment and weak tackling. Second, a regular tendency to lose their own line outs; this was partly due to unreliable service of the ball, but also to apparent confusion and lack of coherence amongst the line out jumpers. Third, there was a marked lack of penetration in attack: only once in the first half had Otley launched a fast and orthodox three-quarter movement (when the try was scored.) Every other attempt at progress involved a short pass to a team-mate who was obviously well covered by the Scottish defence. Supporters spent the half-time interval hoping that these maladies would be identified and dealt with. 

Otley came out fired up for the second half and drove fiercely into the Scottish defence. As Otley pressed on the Scottish line, the visitors conceded no fewer than four penalties. After the fourth the referee’s patience was exhausted and he dispatched one of the Scottish players to the sin bin. Otley took a scrum, drove forward and set up a ruck and then a rolling maul from which they went over for a try, credited to Ollie Steadman. The try was converted and Otley were now well back into the game -  just 15-26 in arrears and facing fourteen men for the next  ten minutes.

Otley put their depleted opponents under pressure, but Scottish hung out. After 55 minutes, Otley gifted them a score when possession was lost after an ill-considered attempt at a short drop out from the 22. A penalty was conceded at the subsequent ruck and Scottish scored the goal to increase their lead to 29-15.

Otley hit back with a vengeance. An excellent three quarter move culminated in Twomey getting the ball about 50 yards from the line. He set off at once with no thought in his mind other than sprinting straight for the line. He left the Scottish defence for dead, scored under the post and showed us all what he can do if he is just given a yard of space. The try was converted and the score was now a tantalisingly close 22-29. Otley were just one converted try away from parity. Otley have two of the fastest and most exciting young wingers in this league; why can’t they be given more of the ball, instead of the futile slow motion drives down the middle that had become the order of the day?

The London Scottish players were now looking tense (with some of them probably thinking about Otley’s incredible fight back last season) whilst the Otley team seemed to realise that the game was winnable. We looked in for a thrilling final quarter.

It was Scottish who were now putting on all the pressure. Otley’s defence stood firm and some excellent tackles (especially from Keinhorwst) kept Scottish at bay.  A rare Otley break put Curtis Wislon in the clear and with a direct run to the try line. However, the referee ruled that the pass had gone  forward and Otley were frustrated. Then with 10 minutes to go Otley struck. The pack managed to turn over the ball in a ruck on their own 22, Stephen Depledge saw a gap and burst through. He was chased by the Scottish defence and looked for support; he threw out a pass – but alas it was straight into the arms of a grateful London Scottish player who cleared the ball and saved the try. One had to wonder, had he called for the ball, in contravention of the rules?  Not according to the referee.

Otley came back and Scottish remained under pressure. A penalty to Otley 50 yards out led to an attempt at goal but the ball went wide.

With time running out, Afoa-Peterson was yellow-carded, Scottish used the penalty to ratchet up the pressure and in the last minute they went over for a push-over try to put the game beyond Otley’s reach.

The final score of 34-22 did not do Otley justice. Scottish probably deserved to win, but Otley certainly deserved at least one bonus point.

Over a full season, good and bad luck are deemed to cancel each other out. So far this season, Otley seem to have had only bad luck. Let’s hope that will soon change.

Next week it’s another trip to London to play Rosslyn Park and then Otley have two successive home fixtures – against Redruth and then surprise leaders of the division, newcomers Barking. Let’s hope for some victories, and some good crowds.