SEDGLEY PARK    20

OTLEY                       43

National League Division One

IF only referee Tim Wigglesworth had blown for good at half-time, Sedgley would have collected their first win of the season. But games are played over 80 minutes and Park went onto squander a 20-12 lead by conceding a further 31 unanswered points in the second half to yet again lose a game they should have won.

This time it was not an unfortunate penalty conceded in the dying minutes but a complete second–half no-show that was to blame. Focus, leadership, concentration and passion were all missing, replaced by a sense of panic as the Tigers emerged for the second half looking inexplicably lost, while Otley came out with their tails up and put in a solid 40 minutes to completely turn the game around.

No doubt the fact Sedgley were without props Huw Thomas (retired, due to a persistent neck injury), Gerallt Evans (reduced to the bench nursing a broken thumb) and Gareth Roberts (knee ligaments), together with loose head Phil Gazzola playing with an on-going achilles heel problem and tight-head Petrus Du Plessis playing out of position, certainly did not help matters in the forwards. However, it does not explain the second-half capitulation.

The game opened with a kicking duel between the two stand-offs, with Tigers’ Phil Jones taking on Otley’s Simon Binns, with the Yorkshireman putting his side 0-6 ahead inside 10 minutes with two well taken penalty goals.Jones then had an opportunity to claw three points back, but instead kicked the penalty for field position, only to see the ball knocked-on following a successful line-out take. However, a few minutes later he did elect to kick for goal from 20 metres and halved the deficit. But on 16 minutes Binns restored the six-point gap with his third kick.

A minute into the second quarter and the Tigers finally made a breakthrough. A scrum, following a penalty and line-out was won and scrum-half Chris Leck fed Jones, whose looping diagonal run featured a repertoire of jinks and dummies, ending with the former England ‘A’ man crossing the Otley line over by the right-hand corner flag. He then added the conversion to put the Tigers into a 10-9 lead.

On 27 minutes both sides lost a player to yellow cards when Otley lock Paul Williams decided to rough Park centre Chris Biers up on the floor, only for Jaco Swart to dive in to help out his Tiger teammate in an uneven contest and both Williams and Swart got 10 minutes to mull over their conduct.

On the half-hour Jones again missed with another penalty goal attempt, however, Ed Norris caught the resulting 22 drop out and the ball was swung right to left, with Briers timing his pass to the on-rushing Arno De Jager to perfection, and the South African fullback cut inside to go over to the left of the Otley’s posts to give Jones the simplest of kicks to make it 17-9.

The Tigers were handed a man-advantage when Otley’s Dan Hyde was yellow–carded for more foul play but they could not make anything of it. However, two minutes into time added on Jones sank a 45-metre penalty to extend the Tigers’ lead to 20-9. But Otley had the last say when Binns kicked his fourth two minutes later to make the score at the turnaround 20-12 to the home side.

If only it could have ended there. Instead the second half belonged to a determined and focused Otley, with the Tigers pale shadows of their first half selves.Four unanswered tries – all converted by Binns ‘the boot’ – along with a fifth Binns’ penalty caught the Tigers sadly napping. Seven minutes in and Jones missed another kick at goal, this time from 38 metres and from then on it was all one-way traffic.

On 54 minutes the visitors won a turnover and impressive Number 8 Maifea Maifea carried the ball diagonally before unleashing winger Steve Parsons, whose blistering turn of speed left the Sedgley defence in his wake. Four minutes later a downfield punt from scrum-half Neil Chivers completely flummoxed opposite number Leck, who was left grasping fresh air by the bounce of the ball and the scavenging James Tiffany stole in to grab possession and offload to Hyde, with the former Leeds Tyke crashing over from short range to give Binns a straight forward two-pointer to make it 20-26.

On 69 minutes Binns stroked over another three-pointer and it was followed by two further converted tries.Otley were awarded a penalty kick 30 metres from the Tigers’ line, and a by now demoralised Park outfit were caught napping by the speed of the tap and go, with the ball going from left to right where Danny Smith popped it up nicely for Maifea, who went over in the corner. Three minutes later another incisive piece of passing gave Binns time and space to slip the ball inside to Parsons and he again evaded the Sedgley cover to go over for his second try of the afternoon and complete a second half demolition of the Tigers.

SEDGLEY PARK: De Jager, Roko, Craig, Briers, Voortman (Naulivou, 75), P. Jones, Leck (J. Albinson, 73), Gazzola, Roddam (M. Jones, 64), Du Plessis, Swart, Norris, Newton (Bennett, 55), Ponton, Skurr (Jope, 75). Not used: Evans, Livesey. Tries: Jones (20), De Jager (30). Conversions: P. Jones 2. Penalties: P. Jones 2. Yellow Card: Swart 

OTLEY: Edwards (Andre, 22), Parsons, Whatmuff, Mooney, Smith, Binns, Chivers, A. Livesey, Steele (Sayers, 49), Fear (Turner, 49), Williams, Whitehead (Back, 66), Stockdale (Tiffany, 42), Hyde, Maifea. Not used: Dench, Pike.Tries: Parsons (53, 78), Hyde (57), Maifea (74). Conversions: Binns 3. Penalties: Binns 5. Yellow Cards: Williams, Hyde