Otley 45 pts Luctonians 26 pts.

A POWERFUL fight-back by Luctonians was only enough to earn the north Herefordshire side a National Two North bonus point after a poor start at Otley.

Luctonians, who won the game between the sides at Mortimer Park, found themselves quickly pegged back as the Yorkshiremen went all out for revenge.

Jon Stannard’s early try was added to by the first of Chris Gemmell’s five conversions. And, after the visitors enjoyed a good spell of play, they were rocked as Otley went over for four tries in a 20-minute spell leading up to the interval.

Man-of-the-match Jonathan Matthews (2), Tom O’Donnell and Luke Cole all went over for scores and, with Gemmell converting three of them, Otley had a commanding 33-0 lead at the break.

A couple of changes at half-time helped Lucs to an early try from Drew Cheshire, converted by John Morris.

With Mike Cheasley in the sin-bin, Matthews scored his third try with Gemmell again adding the conversion.

Morris and Alex Rumsey pulled Luctonians back into the game with tries, both converted by Morris.

And although home prop Toby Williams raced 30 yards for a fine individual try, Luctonians had the last word with Rumsey scrambling over in the corner for a fourth try which secured the bonus point.

Ledbury 34 pts Woodrush 7.

LEDBURY boosted their hopes of avoiding relegation from Midlands Three West (South) after a crucial win over Woodrush.

The Ross Road side now have just five games remaining, of which three are at home, to secure their status.

Ledbury had their first points on the board after 14 minutes when Jon Watkins’ pass played in coach Paul Rudland to cross.

George Bennion kicked the conversion and added a penalty before the break.

A fine try by Watkins, again converted by Bennion, extended the lead and the kicker was on target again shortly afterwards, adding the extras after flanker Paul Williams powered over.

Woodrush pegged the lead back with a converted try but Ledbury made sure of their bonus point on 66 minutes when Joel Skyers. Rudland rounded off the scoring from a pass by Sam Beale. Hereford’s Midlands One West clash at Barkers Butts was postponed due to a frozen pitch while Greyhound’s Midlands Five West (South) trip to Birmingham Exiles met a similar fate.