LOOKING back at last Saturday's defeat by Otley, Sedgley player-coach Tim Fourie admitted: "We were out-smarted and out-muscled, they squeezed the life out of us.

"It was all down to experience especially in their front row, despite missing Justin Wring, they're all ex-Premiership players.

"Their tight five laid a great foundation, their loose forwards had an easy job and their half-backs dictated the game.

"Having said that, there were a lot of things they did that they would not have got away with if another referee had been in charge.

"Their whole front row could have been yellow-carded for illegal obstruction in their rolling mauls, but they are experienced and got away with it."

The key to the game was Otley's ability to dictate the pattern of play, something Fourie is more than aware of.

"All in all, we got sucked into their game, it wasn't until the last 20 minutes that we decided to start playing our own game, we stopped taking them on up front near the rucks and began to move them around," he said.

"We then created phase after phase, made them move from one side to the other and eventually scored a try."

With first choice fullback Arno de Jager back in the side after recovering from an ankle injury, Park were confident going into the game, but Otley's stranglehold prevented them from playing the way they wanted to.

"We didn't really play the game that suits 'Cut', we really need to bring him into the backline and let him hit their 15, take play sideways from touchline to touchline, but he wasn't allowed to.

"He runs great angles and draws people in before passing to the wingers, but he didn't really have much opportunity to do that because we had to defend for most of the game, then when we did get the ball we turned it over cheaply."

However, Saturday is another day, another game and different opposition.

"Hopefully we'll get the opportunity to put our game into practice against Henley, because they like to play expansive rugby like us and get it out to the wings," said Fourie.

"We played them two seasons ago when they won promotion and then they played from one wing to the other like us, and I think they still play like that now, so hopefully we'll have an open game.

"When we went down there they put 20 points on us in the first quarter, after that we had to play catch-up and those 20 points were the difference at the end of the game. At our place we hammered them. But they've had an extra year's experience in National One since then.

"We have to target certain games and take points off the teams immediately below and above us - London Welsh, Nottingham, Henley and Orrell.

"We've performed well against three of the top teams in Plymouth, Rotherham and Bristol, if we can play like we played against them there's no reason whey we shouldn't beat Henley.

"That's the tough part, playing to that standard for 80 minutes week in, week out.

"But the boys are all in good spirits and they are desperate to get their first points, when we do things might be a bit different.

"We have to work on our defensive patterns. When we're defending from the ruck we have to make sure we have guards either side, generals taking charge and a rearguard to ensure no-one comes through the middle. If we can shut the gate like that in the forwards I'm convinced we can win, but we can't afford to leave gaps."

Going into the game there may be one or two changes.

"I'm thinking of maybe changing the starting line-up, but otherwise it will be the same squad."

Chomping at the bit to get involved is first choice scrum-half Dave McCormack. He could be back towards the end of October as he has starting training again after recovering from a broken arm.

In his absence home grown Chris Wilkinson has been deputising and has done well coming up against players far more experienced than himself.