Sheffield Tigers 11 Otley 20

Otley maintained their good form to come away with an important win and also deprived their hosts of a bonus point with some excellent second-half defence.

The visitors played up the slope first into a half which resembled a ploughed field, with slight help from a wind that was to get much stronger.

After a brief flurry from the Tigers, Otley moved briskly upfield to gain a penalty kicked by full back Mark Ireland.

Then, on 15 minutes, a clearing kick was picked up by winger Nazir Karim on halfway and he raced untouched to the posts, Ireland again converting.

Conceding a free-kick at a scrum following the restart, Otley were caught napping as lock Richard Joel broke through to set up a drive from which fellow lock Jamie Harris crashed over.

A good maul from the pack had the Tigers on the back-foot and, when the ball was moved wide, winger Harry Hudson cut back inside to score and give the visitors a 15-5 half-time lead.

A penalty straight from the restart from No 10 Tom Outram fired Tigers up but they were kept in check.

Monitoring his forwards as they drove to the line, scrum half Stephen Depledge nipped over and Otley almost acquired a fourth try when Karim pounced on a charged-down clearing kick but just failed to make the line.

Tigers finished with a flourish but Otley’s defence was rock solid and they had to be satisfied with just another penalty from Outram.