It was Mark Ireland, a former Tigers player, that inflicted most damage scoring 25 points against his old side. However it was Tigers that opened the scoring when following up their kick-off to catch Otley offside, giving centre William Carrington a simple penalty.

Hurt by such a silly mistake, Otley soon made amends when a penalty gave the home side them a five-metre line-out from where Ireland, with a neat little chip nipped through to score and convert. Sheffield pressure was released with a typical break by the irrepressible Dan Temm, which ended with a penalty stroked over from 40 metres by Ireland.

A quarter way through the match, having pushed the Tigers into the top right hand corner continued the attack. Although the referee had signalled Otley had a penalty, Otley continued passing the ball across the pitch which ended with winger Harry Hudson flying over in at the opposite corner. In the dying minutes of the first half, Carrington added a second penalty but when Sheffield centre Jonathan Buchanan was yellow-carded for what was deemed a dangerous tackle, Ireland restored the balance from the 40-metre line. Half-time score 18 – 6.

Within two minutes of the restart, Ireland was over for his second try of the game. Looping round the centres, he went over in the scoreboard corner, adding the conversion. Just after the hour mark James Wood went over in the opposite corner to secure the bonus point for the Cross Greeners, and his third try of the season.

Three changes for the Tigers brought their best attacking spell of the match. From an Otley scrum close to their own line Tigers drove the Otley pack off their put in ball allowing Josh Redfern to push over the line and reduce the deficit to 30-11 with ten minutes left to play. However within two minutes Otley had redressed the balance when from a scrum just over the Tigers 22, Daniel Temm peeled away and then proceeded to palm off would be tacklers to dive over the line, Mark Ireland adding the extras.

Sensing that the game was nearly over, the Tigers bared their teeth one more time, moving the ball through the backs allowing Peter Swatkins enough room to run in for a try. The conversion was missed. Nevertheless it was Otley who came out the stronger, and with the final kick of the game, Mark Ireland stroked another penalty through the uprights to remain the league’s leading points scorer.