At a bright but breezy Sharmans Cross Road Bees started off quite well with Walsh and Binns exchanging early penalties but Bees dominating the possession. Then came the try. Congratulations to Phil or Mark, whoever thought up the move, it was stunning. I can’t really describe it but it left Nick Baxter with a huge overlap. Backo beat his man, but the full back came across and tackled him. The ball was flung down the back line and former rugby league man Lenny Woodard managed to dive in at the corner. Walshie converted the try to give Bees a 10-3 lead. The next try came from Simon Martin, when the Otley defence gave away a penalty, turned off and Walsh went throught the middle before offloading to Martin to score under the posts and Walshie converted again. During this time Simon Binns from Otley scored 3 more penalties to keep them in the match at 17-12 to Bees at half time. However, in the second half Bees took their foot off the gas gifting Otley chances and possession. Otley didn’t really look like scoring a try though and their backline looked extremely weak. Bees however did defend very well and kept a strong Otley forward pack out for a long time. In the second half there were some great moments. Hese Fakatou ran down the middle of the pitch and just steamrollered two men. He literally ran over them. It was scary! Slightly later on, their second row ran very hard at Danny Zaltzman and just bounced off. This was a phenomenal tackle and to be honest it was great that the bloke got up. Some points worried me slightly. The referee in general had a good game but he missed some very dangerous high tackles from the Otley players. Some of their tackling was dangerously high and looked very much like clothesline stuff. So, with two minutes to go it was Bees 25-12 Otley, but then it all got interesting. Otley went up the far end and managed to pinch what probably was a deserved try when Oakes went over. With virtually no time left on the clock Bees had to score one more try to get the bonus point and it was looking very much doubtful. However Danny Zaltzman started a bit of a scuffle just outside their twenty-two, and the Otley hooker and winger quickly ran over to help their man in the fight. Most people were watching the fight but with the ball still in play Tom Richardson ran down an open wing with no-one to beat to run in under the posts. The individual players played well for Bees especially Messrs Thorp, Miles, Hurrell, Zaltzman, Woof and both Knights, but the Bees seemed to lack the co-ordination involved. Nothing serious to worry about but Walshie seemed to struggle with his kicking. Well played Bees! Next up: Bristol. What happened in that game last year?

Last-gasp Bees maintained their perfect start to the season with a hard-fought victory against tough north Yorkshire opponents.

Replacement scrum-half Tom Richardson's late burst through the visiting defence sealed victory for the Sharmans Cross Road club, and secured them a bonus point to keep them at the top of rugby's second tier.

But it was far from plan sailing against a rugged Otley side whose physical approach made it difficult for Phil Maynard's men throughout.

Despite falling behind after just eight minutes and trailing by 13 points as the game went into injury time, the visitors never stopped battling and a touchdown by Jason Oates left Bees with just a six point advantage as the game entered stoppage time.

But then Richardson spotted the ball rolling loose from a maul and dashed 30 yards past Otley's static defence to delight his team-mates.

Facing an impressive pack, Bees tried to play high tempo rugby from the kick-off and were awarded for some good play with a penalty from Tim Walsh after eight minutes.

But last season's National One leading scorer Simon Binns levelled things with a penalty five minutes later and the game remained finely balanced.

It took a superb Bees' try on 19 minutes to break the deadlock.

The ball was spread to Nick Baxter on the left wing whose burst took him into the Otley 22. The ball was quickly recycled to Jim Jenner and he put in winger Lenny Woodard for a score.

That was impressively converted by Walsh, but two penalties converted by Binns made the difference just one point before more top class running rugby gave Bees back the advantage.

Walsh spotted a gap in midfield and beat two tacklers before picking out Simon Martin who scored.

But with Binns adding another penalty before half-time, it took an impressive spell of pressure from Bees after the restart to completely turn the game their way.

Unable to break out of their half for a quarter of an hour, Otley defended increasingly desperately.

And when prop Kris Fullman was sin-binned for deliberate offside, the Bees pack took full advantage to power Matt Miles over the line for their third try.

Walsh added a penalty, but once back to full strength Otley put their hosts under increasing pressure.

When Oates touched down the Bees would have settled for any win, but then Richardson stole the limelight with his late show.

SCORERS: Pertemps Bees - tries: Woodard, Martin, Miles, Richardson; conversions: Walsh (3); penalties: Walsh (2). Otley - tries: Oates; conversion: Binns; penalties: Binns (4).

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