Otley 6-0 Chester

Arctic Monkeys

This was a match dominated by the conditions, which were truly awful writes Des Hickie. The temperature hovered barely above zero. A strong wind blew down the pitch and carried with it a deluge of horizontal freezing rain. Flowing rugby was impossible, because the ball was greasy and hands were frozen. Anything more than a one out pass took the risk that the ball would be carried anywhere by the wind or dropped by frozen fingers. As long as defences maintained their structure and line speed they were able comfortably to manage attempts to move the ball wide. Playing with the advantage of the wind, kicking was the obvious means of making progress up field, not least because the heavy pitch made it difficult to run the ball back.

Hence Chester, playing into the gale during the first half, spent most of their time defending. They did so very well, holding out for long periods of Otley pressure deep in their 22. The Otley forwards carried the ball through phase after phase until they were eventually forced into an error without really ever looking like scoring a try. Critically, however, their scrum was impressive, often driving back the Chester pack. In the 18th minute this produced a kickable penalty 30 metres out which their fly half Ben Smith kicked to put his side in front 3-0. Chester continued to hold out well and even managed to relieve the pressure, taking play in the Otley half. Macca van Sertima made a couple of half breaks cutting back against the grain, and the forwards made gains driving mauls and picking and going from rucks, but inevitably attacks broke down as Otley defenders and the elements intervened. Then in the 35th minute Chester tried to run the ball out of their 22, but conceded a breakdown penalty, which Ben Smith kicked to give his side a narrow 6-0 at the break.

At this point the Chester side had good grounds for optimism. Otley’s lead was small and Chester would have the elements with them. However, the visitors experienced similar problems in attack to those Otley faced in the first period. The home side defended well and, at times, were able to use their scrum to relieve the intense pressure on their try line. The Chester pack drove lineouts deep into home territory, and at times it seemed only a matter of time before they would cross for a try in the corner, but the Otley defence held. Sometimes the defenders forced errors and sometimes they conceded penalties. For Chester this meant kicking the ball into the corner yet again - as the conditions meant it was unlikely that they would kick a penalty from wide out. A card from the referee, Mr. Woods, might have made a difference, but understandably he showed empathy for both sides in the difficult conditions. On the final whistle the players showed great alacrity in running to the shelter of the changing rooms in an effort to ward off frostbite.

The conclusion was a half with no points scored, a game with no tries, and a narrow defeat with a losing bonus point for Chester. Ironically, Chester strengthened their league position in second place, moving a point closer to leaders Hull Ionians, who lost 17 -0.