Otley Preview
By Frank Stormont
December 15 2006
With some predicting a thirty point win for Albion at Brickfields and Otley recently turning over Cornish Pirates this should be a must watch confedence building match. Now with announced Squad
Squad to play Otley
Martin Rice
Richard Oxley
Francisco
Deformes
Colin Stewart
Tom Hayes
Federico Genoud
Danny Thomas
Chris Lowrie
Ed Lewsey
Ed Barnes
Nic Sestaret
Sila Va'Enuku
Regardt Van
Eyk
Tom Arscott
Nat Saumi
Nigel Cane
David Delaney
Arran
Cruickshanks
Jon Fabian
Scott
Zimmerman
Tim Mathias
James Owen
Brett Stroud
Mike Lewis
Bench from
Spy in the Camp Otley
2:15 Kick off 16th December
After a loss at Doncaster Albion will be looking for a solid win at home to Otley this weekend and 5 points for the league table.
Otley have won 5 or their 15 matches, mostly of low position teams but with won notable exception. They beat the Cornish Pirates at the end of last month 23-19 so we will have to watch their sting in the tail. They have also put on a 40plus win against Sedgley Park in September which was their only away win of this season.
Former Albion Alister Livesey has featured in the Otley side but I can not find out how often, but he is yet to score his debut try.
Rugby Round up predict a win by 30 points, which should be enough to secure the try bonus point.
Otley Point Scorers
| Player | Points | Tries | Convs | Pens | DGs |
| Simon Binns | 109 | 1 | 14 | 25 | 0 |
| Steve Parsons | 20 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Maifea Maifea | 20 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Andy Brown | 20 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Danny Smith | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Neil Chivers | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Howard Parr | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Owen Edwards | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Brendon Back | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dan Hyde | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Stockdale | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| James Tiffany | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paul Williams | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Robin Kitching | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Xavier Andre | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 246 | 24 | 18 | 29 | 1 |
Last meetings
Albion won their forth match of this season, 3 - 36, when the travelled to Cross Green in September this year.
This must have been one of the best starts to the season for some time after 4 games 2 points clear at the top and the only side to have won every game. The team may feel as though they are on the top of the world, or at least top of the league but as Graham Dawe said on BBC Radio Devon the only time to look at the league tables is after the last game of the season.
With tries for Richard Oxley, Colin Stewart, Wihan Neethling and Tom Hayes and 16 points from the boot of Wihan it brings his own personal tally to 48 of the 115 points in the league for the team so far. Photos of Match by Paul Barrett
Last time at Brickfields
The Last time Otley visited Brickfields Albion were too strong for Otley and came out 33 - 3 winners in front of a 2,415 crowd. With Martin Schusterman pulling out just minutes before the match Chris Lowrie stepped upto the mark.
Tries for Danny Thomas, Stuart Pearl, Jon Fabian and Alfie Tooala as well as a Penalty Try secured the bonus point.
Albion have only played Otley three times at Brickfields with a loss 10-16, a draw 11-11 and last year the win 33-3
This is Plymouth report
Last three matches
Table
| Team |
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
F
|
A
|
BP
|
PTS
|
|
| 1 | Leeds | 15 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 494 | 263 | 12 | 64 |
| 2 | Earth Titans | 15 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 526 | 205 | 14 | 62 |
| 3 | Cornish Pirates | 15 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 502 | 227 | 12 | 60 |
| 4 | Doncaster | 15 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 426 | 209 | 11 | 59 |
| 5 | Plymouth Albion | 15 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 432 | 188 | 10 | 58 |
| 6 | Bedford | 15 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 433 | 323 | 13 | 47 |
| 7 | Pertemps Bees | 15 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 358 | 397 | 10 | 40 |
| 8 | Coventry | 15 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 296 | 362 | 6 | 36 |
| 9 | Exeter | 15 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 314 | 318 | 5 | 35 |
| 10 | Nottingham | 15 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 394 | 405 | 11 | 35 |
| 11 | Newbury | 15 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 325 | 368 | 5 | 33 |
| 12 | Otley | 15 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 246 | 401 | 3 | 23 |
| 13 | Sedgley Park | 15 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 258 | 506 | 6 | 18 |
| 14 | London Welsh | 15 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 256 | 458 | 4 | 16 |
| 15 | Moseley | 15 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 255 | 508 | 6 | 14 |
| 16 | Waterloo | 15 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 244 | 621 | 1 | 9 |
Predictions
BetFred
Albion to win by 25 points
Albion 3rd favourite to win League at 7/2
Terrace Talk
Fifth placed Plymouth Albion take on 12th placed Otley looking to return to winning way.
Plymouth Albion dropped down to fifth last Saturday after losing at Doncaster 12-8. At home this season they have a 100% record with seven straight wins.
The defeat at Doncaster saw their five match winning run come to an end.
Otley are at the wrong end of the Form Guide with just the one win in their last six matches. On the road this season they have a poor record with just the one win in seven matches, a 43-20 win at Sedgley Park.
At Cross Green earlier in the season Albion were 36-3 winners.
Prediction: Albion to win by 12 points at home to Otley at Brickfields.
Rugby Round up
Albion will be licking their wounds after losing a tight encounter at Doncaster and this won’t be a great time for the Yorkshire side to visit The Brickfields. Plymouth have won all their home games this season and will be desperate for a maximum points return here. Otley were thrashed by the Titans last week but stayed well in contention until the last half hour. Expect something similar here. Albion to win by thirty points
Frank's prediction.
Albion 38 Otley 9
Don't forget you can register your own predictions!
Visiting fans
Tickets available on the gate:
| Ground | Seated grandstand | |
| Adult | £12 | £17 |
| Senior | £9 | £14 |
| Student | £9 | £14 |
| Child | £3 | £10 |
Car park -£3
Programme £2
Food/beer
Good selection of hot food such as
pasties and curry. Beer at £2 a pint
upto 30 mins before kick-off.
Please note the Burger bar outside the ground is not part of Plymouth Albion
The rain should be over and clear skies are predicted.
Officials
Plymouth Albion vs
Otley
Referee: Richard Phillips
Touch judges: Steve Leyshon, Mark
Summerhayes
Assessor: Mike Winnell
Other top team matches this weekend
Other top 5 team matches that might effect the league lead
Saturday
Titans(2) v Exeter(9) (Titans by *15 #18 +12)
Sunday
Cornish Pirates(3) v Leeds(1) (Leeds by *6 +4 Pirates by #2)
Nottingham(10) v Doncaster(4) (Doncaster by *14 #5 +8)
*BetFred
prices
+Terrace Talk
#Rugby Roundup
The key match for the top of the table fight is between Pirates and Tykes on Sunday, the result of this match will affect the places at the top.
Albion matters
Keni Fisilau having received his third yellow card of the season may or may not be available for selection. If he is out this will leave a space for either Arran Cruickshanks or Sila Va'enuku or even Nat Saumi. Sila took Arran's place on the bench last week at Donny but I don't know if that was due to Sila's form or an injury to Arran.
Wihan Neethling was reported to have had a cast on his wrist after the Donny match but there was no sign of it on Tuesday evening after training.
Nigel Cane seems to have
continued to return to fitness but yet
again we have the Nigel, Ed Lewsey, Tom
Arscott decision to be made.
Both Francisco Deformes and Tim Matias
were on the bench last week but Tim was
unused will they both be there on
Saturday or will Graham use Mike Lewis,
if fit, as a second row replacement??
Albion's team:
Nat Saumi, Tom Arscott, Regardt van Eyk
Sila Vaenuku, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes,
Ed Lewsey, Martin Rice, Richard
Oxley, Francisco Deformes, Colin
Stewart, Tom Hayes, Federico Genoud,
Danny Thomas, Chris Lowrie
Replacement (from): Nigel Cane, David
Delaney, Arran Cruickshanks, Jon Fabian,
Scott Zimmerman, Tim Mathias, James
Owen, Brett Stroud, Mike Lewis
Westcountry Warriors
There was to have been a match between Warriors and Redruth on Sunday but this has been cancelled.
Next match is set for 23rd December at
Torquay.
Ladies
The Ladies travel to London for the second week running as they take on Rosslyn Park, who sit bottom of the table. Albion have won there last three games and will want to make it 4 in a row. Not satisfied with a win they will be looking for the try bonus point which requires 5 tries one more than the men.