Firstly apologies to all of our regular readers for such a delay in last weeks offering - nothing to do with the result, just was at the bottom of a very long to do list!

This week Hinckley hosted Otley in round 8 of N2N. Although it is far too early to be saying any game is a 'must win', after 6 defeats in a row and 1 point from a possible 30, a win was needed! Hinckley made 2 changes in the pack - Ewan Bartlett started at tight head, and Ehize Ehizode came into the second row. In the backs Glen Murray returned to the starting line up, whilst Aaron Philip had a first appearance on the bench.

Hinckley started very brightly, with a line break from Mitch Culpin nearly leading to a try. A couple of minutes later, a well organised lineout drive lead to Ehizode going over, with Connor Eastgate adding the conversion. In the next 10 minutes, another couple of drives were stopped by the visitors, leading to Hinckley kicking at goal when given a penalty 40 metres out, which Eastgate converted on 23 minutes.

A second try came on 30 minutes, when captain Alex Salt went over from close range, with an Otley player going to the bin in the lead up. However Hinckley soon after lost Ben Avent to the sideline, creating an opportunity for the visitors to score. The conversion was missed but a penalty was added just before the break to leave the score at 15 - 8.

Soon after half time, Callum Dacey made an excellent break which lead to him being held up over the line. However from the resulting scrum, the visitors crumbled and the referee correctly went under the posts with no warnings offered. Eastgate added the extras.

With 20 minutes to play, and Hinckley again down to 14 with Jacob Umaga in the bin Otley scored a converted try to bring the score back to 22 - 15, however with 3 minutes left, the visitors lost a bonus point, and Hinckley got their's when Joe Glover darted over.

A first bonus point win in N2N, and one which has increased confidence around the squad. We now head into two away games back to back, travelling to Tynedale on Bonfire Night, with next weeks the trip being to our old friends from Scunthorpe