Second home game of the season for Otley, their opponents being Sedgley Park Tigers. There was an element of nervous anticipation among home supporters, keenly aware that the visitors were recently relegated from National One, had retained much of their squad and were aiming to return to the division above as soon as possible.
These fears grew not long after kick off as the Tigers cut through Otley’s defence, passed quickly along the line and touched down on the right, with only a couple of minutes on the clock. Several more Tigers tries followed and by half-time they’d built a lead.
However, having stuck at it throughout the first forty, Otley were rewarded with a converted try in the final play of the half. Relief among home fans was short lived though, as the Tigers onslaught continued in the second half. The final score was 7-68.
Despite much of the play being at the other end of the field during the game, there was still plenty of interest to photograph during the afternoon - the warm ups, pre and post match portraits, Otley’s beautiful ground and the surrounding countryside. Of course, when your side only scores once, there’s an extra pressure to make sure it’s captured. As you can see, I managed to have it covered, along with the following conversion.
It was good to catch up with people, most notably Sedgley’s Bob Birtwell. He was part of the England Counties squad I photographed on their tour to Georgia in 2019. It was great to see him.
