Ionians beaten as Otley escape drop

HULL Ionians suffered a final-minute defeat as they went down to a 39-38 home defeat by Otley, who preserved their National Two North status.

In an entertaining 11-try encounter, Ionians produced some excellent rugby and outscored their opponents by six tries to five.

But Otley's tenacity showed as they fought to avoid the drop and took control in the second half before winning in the final seconds.

Otley's survival was almost taken from them when they conceded a try in the 76th minute to go behind again, but the final move of the match saw scrum-half Munro break from a scrum and Tom Rock juggle the pass before reaching the line to claim the decisive match-winning try.

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The first half had been dominated by Ionians, with some free-flowing and confident rugby bringing a return of five tries.

Georgiou kicked an early penalty for Otley, before a break by Dan Zgoda and Adam Thomas released Gary Stephenson down the wing and Ionians' Kerry Wood was in support to score the try. Glenn Boyd was on target with the goal.

Four minutes later, after moving the ball back and forth across the field, Wood gained space to beat three men to score again.

An attacking line-out from a penalty set up Curtis Wilson to go under the posts for Otley, with Georgiou converting, but Ionians then seemed to take control.

A blind-side break saw Jon Steel take the return pass to score for Ionians, before recycled ball set up Boyd to jink under the posts.

Otley replied with a penalty before they dropped the ball for Gary Stephenson to race 70 metres to score, Boyd converting all three.

Otley replied on the whistle with scrum half James Munro darting in.

The second half saw Otley raise their game to survive demonstrating excellent ball retention in the process.

Ionians were perhaps under performing with injuries to several players not helping their cause, Joe Sanders bravely playing on but Rob Kench and Dan Zgoda both leaving the field.

Retained possession saw Georgiou clear on an overlap, add a penalty then Wilson collected their own 22 drop out to race clear to score.

Another Georgiou penalty gave Otley a 34-33 lead, before Ionians at last had some good ball and the forwards drove to the line, where Adam Thomas dived in to score and retake the lead.

But in the final scrum, Rock popped up to score his injury-time try to send Harrogate down.

IONIANS won the Yorkshire under-19s Colts Cup after beating Doncaster 10-0 with tries from Jamie Ashton and Richard Barrass.