Otley 87 - Manchester 3

After the winter freeze

had caused the postponement of several matches everyone was looking

forward to a return to rugby at Cross Green on Saturday. Starved of

rugby for a while, there was a rumour that some people had threatened

to pay a visit to Headingley!

Saturday brought the visit

of Manchester, a club that has fallen on very hard times. Financial

problems led to an exodus of most of last year’s first team squad

and the young and inexperienced players brought in to replace them

have been overwhelmed and outclassed by the opposition at this level

– losing all of their 17 league matches and conceding over 1,500

points in the process.

Mismatches of this

magnitude should have no part to play in rugby union. A mismatch in

rugby is not like one in football, where the lesser team merely runs

the risk of getting hammered about 7-0 and being made to look rather

foolish: the sheer physicality of rugby means that it’s more like a

mismatch in boxing, where the weaker participant is in grave danger

of serious injury.

This unhappy situation

would never have needed to come about if the RFU allowed clubs in

Manchester’s position to apply to descend to a lower division where

they could compete realistically and, above all, safely. When Halifax

had the good sense to make such a request they were told it was all

or nothing – they had to stay where they were or go down to the

very bottom tier of Yorkshire Division 6. Thus, thanks to the RFU, a

club once prominent on the Yorkshire scene are consigned to play

recreational “course rugby.” Manchester’s players, by contrast,

are condemned to life-and-limb risking demoralisation every week.

Neither malady is likely to overly concern the RFU, who are blatantly

unconcerned about the state of club rugby below the muscle-bound

negativity of the Premiership.

Nevertheless, it was

looking as though Manchester may have turned the corner a little.

Last week they gave Wharfedale a decent game and only lost by about

20 points. An influx of loan players from Sale looked to have wrought

serious improvements. However, there were a lot of changes for the

team that took the field at Cross Green. Manchester supporters

confirmed that this had nothing to do with the Sale connection – it

was merely a matter of injuries and unavailability.

After the patched up team

and disappointing defeat at Blackheath last week, Otley were back to

near full-strength. From the kick off Otley dominated with a lively

cocktail of rucks, mauls, drives and passing movements. Manchester

tried to stem the tide by standing blatantly offside, but the referee

spotted the infringements and the penalties pinned them back even

further. Otley took the lead in the 7th

minute when stand-off Chris Georgiou gathered a crisp pass from a

ruck in the Manchester 22 metre area and easily side-stepped his way

through. After that it was one-way traffic throughout the match as

Otley scored 13 tries. Ben Hough kicked superbly, converting 11 of

them. For the record, Otley’s tries were scored by Hough, Kirby,

Georgiou, Denman, Barker, Walker and Stedman. One was a pushover try,

but the others all came from creative and free flowing passing

movement. If any particular try stood out it was the one scored by

loose-head Prop Gareth Denman , who took a pass cleanly from about 20

yards out, burst through at speed, evaded three opponents and thus

broke all known rules of the front-row union!

Being under virtually no

pressure throughout, Otley made far fewer errors than usual, although

they were pulled back for forward passes on four occasions. We must

hope that this romp has enhanced their self-confidence. The run out

was superficially entertaining for the fans, but this isn’t what

rugby ought to be about. A more serious hope is that Manchester

recover their former standing in the game and, above all, that their

players go through the season without any serious injuries.

The win puts Otley out of

the relegation zone. The next two matches are both against fellow

strugglers – away to Sedgley Park and at home to Cinderford. These

matches will be crucial, with the Cinderford encounter most certainly

qualifying for the “must win” label.