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SATURDAY 14th NOVEMBER 2026
OTLEY RUFC V TYNEDALE RFC

This Saturday the 1st XV are back down in North West Yorkshire to play our old friends Otley.

Also on the road are our Raiders and Hadrians who have tough County Cup matches at Alnwick.
On Sunday our Colts have an important home National Cup match against Percy Park, kicking off at 1pm.

Wherever you are ENJOY your rugby weekend everyone.

OTLEY’S CROSS GREEN GROUND
In his book ‘English Rugby Clubs’ Chris Harte described Otley RUFC’s Cross Green ground in the following way:-
“This is a lovely ground set in the one of the best parts of Wharfedale. There is no raucous noise from loudspeakers here; just a gentle oompah from the town’s brass band”.
And continuing, “There is much to see in Otley. An ancient bridge of seven arches; numerous old coaching inns and a church which has its origins in Norman days. Above the narrow streets of Otley rises the Chevin, a great hill ridge with a glorious panoramic view of the gleaming river amongst the woods and meadows, and down below is the market town.”

Among the famous personalities who were born in the town were Thomas Chippendale in 1718, and even more familiar to rugby fans, Mike Tindall, (b.1978), the Rugby World Cup winning centre who is married to Zara (nee Phillips), the King’s niece.

The rugby club's junior section has, amazingly, produced two English International scrum-halfs, Nigel Melville (b.1961) – now Director of Professional Rugby for the RFU, who won 13 caps for England and Danny Care (b.1987), even more remarkably the holder of 101 caps - captaining England seven times.

Otley RUFC’s ground hosted the famous North 21-9 victory over the All Blacks in 1979. The North were the only team to beat the New Zealanders on that eleven- match tour. Otley also hosted the North v Australia match in 1988 and the Italy v USA tie in the 1991 Rugby World Cup.

TYNEDALE/OTLEY MATCHES
The two clubs first played each other in a friendly on the 16th February 1980 at Cross Green, with Otley winning 14-13. Another four friendly club matches between the clubs, pre-dating the introduction of league rugby in England in 1987, resulted in four further victories for Otley.

TYNEDALE’S FIRST LEAGUE MATCH.
On the 12 September 1987 the very first league match for Tynedale happened to be against Otley, and took place at Cross Green in North Division One. Otley won 24-0. The Tynedale team that day was:-
Iain Harris; Mark Richard, Gary Taylor, Huw Mainwaring, Jonny Rutherford; Chris Leslie, Gary Rutherford; Martin White, Alan Gledson, Chris Dixon; Steven Dunn, Richard Cunningham; Jonny Matthews, Derek Copeland, Graham Yates.
Note: there is some conjecture as to whether Jonny Matthews played – some documentation claim Micky Lee played and not Jonny!

Great to see at least 6 of this side are still key faces around Tynedale Park.

Then, 1988-89 Tynedale 19 Otley 16
(In 1988/89 Tynedale were runners up to Kendal. Otley finished sixth).
1989-90 Otley 13 Tynedale 9
(Otley took the North One title and our league paths diverged)

In all there have been 25 league matches between the clubs - – Tynedale
Winning 16 (720 points), Otley winning 7 (535 point) with 2 matches drawn.

Tynedale won the most recent match between the sides last season at Otley on the 7th Feb. 2026 – in difficult conditions Tynedale won a hard fought game 23-15.

THE LAST SEVEN MATCHES AT OTLEY.
(HAS HOME ADVANTAGE HAD AN INFLUENCE?)
24th March 2018 Otley 27 Tynedale 38
27th October 2018 Otley 32 Tynedale 17
4th November 2020 Otley 16 Tynedale 13
29h April 2023 Otley 22 Tynedale 24
11th November 2023 Otley 31 Tynedale 26
7th December 2024 Otley 26 Tynedale 41
7th February 2026 Otley 15 Tynedale 23
3 wins for Otley; 4 wins for the visitors.
What happened to home advantage? – Lack of “gentle oompah from the town’s brass band” perhaps?

OTLEY THIS SEASON
Otley have had a difficult start to the season and currently prop the table up having only won one of their 8 matches. (Their match against Hull Ionians was postponed).

It seems as if we are seeing an explosion of tries in matches this season and it must be unusual for the bottom of the league team to be averaging over 3.6 tries per game, as Otley are.
Unfortunately for Otley they are conceding on average over 6.3 tries per game. (Tynedale, on average, score 4.9 tries per game and concede 4 tries per game)

Tynedale, of course. know very well that our league does not offer easy matches and we will face an Otley side desperate to get their season on track – we will need our ‘A’ game.

OTLEY’S LEAGUE MATCH RESULTS
Otley 21 Harrogate 24
Wharfedale 29 Otley 37
Otley 28 Chester 50
Otley 7 Sedgley Park 68
Billingham 43 Otley 31
Otley 38 Preston Grasshoppers 47
Otley 21Sheffield Tigers 31
Darlington MP 36 Otley 12

OTLEY GROUND
Otley Rugby Club
Cross Green
Otley
W. Yorks
LS21 1HE
07879 082058

CORBRIDGE TO OTLEY
108 miles (via A1) – 2hrs

OTLEY WEBSITE
https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/otley/

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Nikki O’Donnell
AR1: Matt Daubney
AR2: Rosie Procter
AR Coach: Don Helme

WEATHER FORECAST
Sunny, light southern westerly wind, 7 degrees

OTHER RUGBY THIS WEEKEND

FRIDAY 13th NOVEMBER
Tynesett Colts v Gateshead U17 (7pm)
SATURDAY 14th NOVEMBER
Alnwick 1stXV v Raiders (2pm) – County Cup
Alnwick Lions v Hadrians (2pm) – County Cup
Centurions v Berwick Bears (County Cup) - POSTPONED
SUNDAY 15th NOVEMBER
Under 16s v Consett (11am) - friendly
Colts v Percy Park Colts (1pm) – National Cup

SELECTED SQUADS