OTLEY simply never recovered from conceding a rather lucky try in the second minute of their National Two North match against the second-placed hosts.

The visitors managed to create a few opportunities but wasted most of them in the face of some hefty tackling, and their defence was sometimes lacking.Their kick-off was returned into touch and Otley took the line-out smartly to launch a well co-ordinated attack, only for a pass to go loose, the ball being hoofed downfield by winger Gareth Clarke, who followed up to score under the posts, fly half Joe Tarrant converting.

The next 20 minutes saw the hosts on the back foot, Otley missing a 10th minute penalty opportunity after an infringement at the breakdown, but Otley were unable to press home any advantage followed by a throw at a five-metre line-out being too long. They then contrived to lose their throw on their five-metre line, Tarrant feeding Matt Burke, who crashed over at the posts on 25 minutes although the conversion was missed.

A penalty then took Ampthill back to Otley’s five-metre line, where a catch and drive led to flanker Joe Bercis going over before Tarrant just beat the whistle with a breakaway try to establish a 22-0 half-time lead.

Otley mounted a determined challenge after the break, keeping Ampthill on the back foot within their own 22, including successive five-metre lineouts and scrums. Finally, after 63 minutes, they put their game together with a series of attacks from close-in, flanker Matt Heaton finishing off in the corner, but the home side came back with tries in quick succession.

There was a second for Tarrant and one for winger Darren Dyer, each converted by Tarrant, who, after winger Alex Beaumont grabbed a second for Otley, completed his hat-trick.

With thanks to John Finch and Warren Kay (Ampthill)