Otley 45 Bradford & Bingley 12

Firstly, what a special place for the U 14's to be invited to play - the first team pitch at Otley! Steeped in tradition and home of that famous victory by The Northern Division v All Backs in 1979. To misquote Max Boyce - I was there!
I was listening to Brian O’Driscoll this afternoon in the half time chat when he said, very knowledgably that Ireland had been gifted their score whereas Italy had had to work hard for theirs and it reminded me very much of parts of this mornings game.
After the opening 7 minutes when Bees matched Otley in every department, some poor counter rucking when the ball had effectively been won gifted Otley possession, often against the run of play and Otley then sliced through our defence and exploited space to put the points on the board.
Eventually we broke through with Sam Mantle getting over the whitewash after pleasingly outrunning Bees old boy George Hahn, himself no slouch.
Half time – Otley 19 Bees 5
Once again our second half performance was much stronger than the first with intensity at a much higher level, though the boys must learn that this is a game of 50 minutes their concentration levels have got to be at a high from the very first kick of the game and that one or two tackles doesn’t win a game!
Whilst beginning to fight for every ball, Bees were able to start to play in Otleys half and despite conceding four more ties in the second half, Ashton Coatesworth was able to cross the whitewash towards the end, with Sam Bryan converting with the last kick of the game.
Full time – Otley 45 Bees 12
Whilst Otley won this game, Bees did made them work for it and there were some strong individual performances. The tackle practice that we’ve worked on so extensively in training was self-evident at times and pleasing to see. On a positive note – a squad of 16 players made themselves available for this game, despite half term holidays and ongoing injuries – well done.
Lots to work on again in training before our next test away at Bradford Salem next weekend.
Training
Wednesday – 6.30 pm – Wagon Lane
Team: Luka Antianoskovic, Dan Bandy, Sam Bryan(C), Alex Calvert, Thomas Carnelly, Ashton Coatesworth, Connor Gill, Max Harrison, Tom Hodgson, Emilio Horn, Tolly Lickley, Sam Mantle, Connor McClements, Louie Milner, Jacob Slater, James Slingsby