Liverpool St Helens 39 Otley 16 LSH continued their fine home form with a superb display against Otley . . . if only they could reproduce this self-confidence on their travels.

Despite lacking the services of inspirational skipper Brian Wellens and industrious hooker Jon Hitchen, both with shoulder injuries, the homesters scored five tries to two and were good value for an emphatic win.

A cohesive forward display in which the back row of Dave Lupton, Dave Gaskell and Tim Wood were outstanding was the platform upon which the backs, well directed by Ian Callaghan, deputy for Wellens, displayed their skills to good effect. The front five worked hard and hooker John Grigg took two against the head, while Martin Boyd and Mike Nugent edged the lines out.

The only negative aspect of play was the tendency to give away penalties, mainly for ball killing, and LSH were fortunate that Otley's prolific kicker Peter Rutledge was side-lined. His deputy, Simon Hawkins, kicked two, but missed several. Paul Brett for LSH in contrast kicked six out of eight including four conversions.

Try scorers for LSH were Brett after good work by Gaskell, Grigg and Wood, Mark Sephton who picked up a ball on the half way line, kicked ahead, and caught a cruel bounce to score. Martin Boyd then won a line out and once again Gaskell drove to put Tim Wood in. Colin King scored the fourth try, the pack driving him over and finally, centre John Aby cut through a static defence from 30 metres.

A similar display against Newbury (away) next Saturday would be more than welcome.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.