Hoppers crush Otley, Moon in 7th Heaven

Date: 14 April 2012

PRESTON GRASSHOPPERS 90 OTLEY 5

Preston Grasshoppers put in a memorable performance to run in fourteen tries and put a struggling Otley side to the sword. Hoppers have been threatening to break out with a big score for a while but the standard of play was above anything that could be expected. They were lead from the start by the talismanic number 8 Dominic Moon who scored seven tries himself including three in the final minutes to round off a wonderful performance.

Head Coach Dave Baldwin said; “We had played well in patches throughout the season but this was the first time we really put in together for 80 minutes and when we play with that kind of pace and intensity you have just seen what we can do. It’s not all attack I thought or defence was outstanding and there is a real buzz at the club about that, they had 4 or 5 line outs close to our line and we stopped them all and they ended up just taking tap penalties.”

He added; “we still think there is more to come and it’s a testament to the guy’s attitude and work ethic that they believe they left some points on the park.”

It all started with Sean Taylor’s try in the opening minute following a quick tap penalty that caught the visitors on there heals. Kilian Wallace then rounded off a well worked scrum move as Moon and Nathan Fowles combined well before Moon got two tries in quick succession from the base of well worked line outs wrapping up the try bonus point inside 20 minutes.

Otley would press back into the game and dominated possession but Hoppers defence never buckled and in the final minute of the half Fowles latched on to a misplaced pass to race 60 yards and add insult to injury for the visitors, Fowles also had a good day with the boot landing ten of the fourteen conversions.

The second half started in the same fashion as Taylor crossed with just seconds on the clock after a turn over and it was Hoppers ruthless work in broken field play that ran up the score. Moon scored his third and fourth tries either side of Taylor’s hat trick and Karl Fitzpatrick joined the scoring fest straight from the restart.

Otley did get across the line with a George Burkinshaw score but Hoppers replied straight away with a Conor Murphy sore before Moon added three late tries to put a seal on a great day.

Star Man – Dominic Moon (Hoppers)

Below is the footage of all Hoppers 14 tries.

 

Here are some shots taken by Mike Craig from today’s game

For those viewing this on a mobile device here is the link.

 

 

 

 

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