Hoppers head to Otley this weekend looking to break a run of 6 successive defeats which has seen the Lightfoot Green men drop into the bottom two, 8 points from safety.
The league table suggests that this could be a low scoring and tight affair with both sides only picking up 4-try bonus points on 2 occasions this season. Otley’s second of which came last weekend with a thumping 62-24 win at Scunthorpe which saw them break a run of three consecutive defeats.
Statistically Otley’s two danger men are Fly-half Ben Smith who has racked up 80 points in 12 appearances and Centre Henry Roberts who has notched up 7 tries in 14 starts this season. Familiar faces in the Otley front row are Hooker Ben Steele and prop George Burkinshaw who have between them appeared in over 500 games for the Yorkshire side.
Before relegation at the end of the 2010/11 season into National 2 North, Otley had lived in the upper levels of league rugby since gaining promotion at the end of the 1990/91 season from the Courage Division 4 North. When our two clubs met at Lightfoot Green that season, Hoppers came out on top by sixteen points to four. Hoppers and Otley next met in league action during our first season at Level 3 rugby in 1999/2000 when the Yorkshire side did the double over Hoppers. This was to be for just one year, with Otley gaining promotion once again.
The playing record between this week’s opponents goes way back to April 1929 when Otley played Hoppers whilst they were on an Easter tour. The home team ran out winners that day but suffered a comprehensive defeat the following season at Otley’s Cross Green ground against what was thought to be one of the strongest sides in Yorkshire.
There was then a considerable gap in time before the two clubs met again, but once that happened in 1961, games were played each season through into the “Leagues” period.
The records show that there have been fifty previous games played between the two clubs with this Saturday’s opponents holding a slender lead of just one victory plus one match being drawn ten points each back in the 1994/95 season and five others being cancelled. Amongst the games that have been played, League encounters number just sixteen with eight victories credited to each side.
Team News
Hoppers are boosted by the return of Tom Davidson at fly-half. Davidson has missed all of the season to date with injury and returns on Saturday. He’s joined in the starting lineup by his brother Will Davidson who partners James Fitzpatrick in a powerful centre combination.
1. Noah MILLER
2. PJ MILLEA (C)
3. John BLANCHARD
4. Adam HOWARD
5. Ally MURRAY
6. Sam WALLBANK
7. Toby HARRISON
8. Matt LAMPREY
9. James GOUGH
10. Tom DAVIDSON
11. Tyler SPENCE
12. James FITZPATRICK
13. Will DAVIDSON
14. Sam STOTT
15. Nick GREGSON
REPLACEMENTS:
16. C. TAYLOR
17. O. MABAYA
18. O. TRIPPIER
19. B. DORRINGTON
20. A. HURST
