Left Lineout: January

 

With the Championship now reaching crunch time, Nottingham Rugby are doing all they can to drum up some extra support in the city as they bid for a play-off spot. However, results last month struggled to live up to the increased sense of expectation surrounding the team as they faced three difficult away games and crashed out of the British and Irish Cup.

 

The biggest news coming out of Meadow Lane is the announcement of the club’s “Push for the Premiership” plan. A place in the top flight is on the horizon and the Green and Whites want to get the whole city behind them. To mark the start of the push, the club are making the match against Leeds Carnegie on February 5 a family day out, with adult tickets costing £5 and kids seats just £1 with the aim of bringing in a new legion of fans to join the die-hard supporters ahead of the play-offs, which begin on March 9.

 

Chief Executive Simon Beatham said: “We’ve sold 1,500 tickets during the promotion so far and hope that we’ll get a crowd of around 2,500 for the game. There are 750,000 people in Nottingham and it has the facilities to support a Premiership side but the team isn’t that well known. There were ten guys at the World Cup who play or have played for Nottingham in recent years but people don’t know that so we have to find ways to promote this and we are confident that once people come to watch a game they will enjoy it and keep coming back.”

 

They have been able to attract more players with experience in top-class rugby, including flanker Brent Wilson, who played in the Premiership for Newcastle Falcons and believes that the extra support will help push Nottingham towards the Promised Land. He added: “There’s good vocal support here from the fans and the bigger the crowd the better it is for us, particularly at a time when we need to gain some good momentum. The Championship is very tight and it’s very difficult to play away from home so going into this weekend it is a must-win game – even though we are nearly guaranteed a play-off place – and the fans can help that. We have a good team, with experience and very few injury worries, so, touch wood, that will continue, and if we can get some momentum we can challenge for promotion.” 

 

 

The team has also been out and about across the city under the stewardship of new community manager Steve Smith. The academy players visited the farmer’s market in West Bridgford to drum up some support for February’s family day out, while Phil Eggleshaw and Sean Romans were test dummies for a variety of new massage techniques at a health event in the area. Smith also led a training session for the Sherwood Barbarians and, to finish off, children from Trentham College in Staffordshire were treated to some expert coaching from Academy manager John Widdowson before being entertained by the David Jackson and Alex Shaw double act.  

 

Elsewhere, New Zealand- born Matt Holloway has joined the club until the end of the season. The 27-year-old has previous experience of English rugby after a short spell at London Wasps and becomes the third recognised hooker at the club. And with international rugby set to burst back onto our screens this month, academy graduate Jack Bradford has been called up to the Scotland Under-20 side for the forthcoming Six Nations campaign. He follows in the footsteps of fellow academy products Mitchell Todd and Charlie Davis in representing his country at group level and marks the latest stage of his progression. Less happily for the club, winger Rhys Crane has suffered a setback in his return from injury after going under the knife again to reset the broken jaw he suffered on his Green and Whites debut and he will be out for at least another four weeks. 

 

 

On the field they, Nottingham Rugby have also encountered a difficult month, kicking things off with a trip to Penzance to play Cornish Pirates, where they fell to a 26-24 defeat. After two disappointing defeats over Christmas they were unlucky not to end the run at one of the toughest grounds to visit, but ill-discipline and a late Pirates penalty cost them dearly. When the sides met earlier in the season, Nottingham surrendered the lead late on in a 25-25 draw and again took control early on with James Arlidge scoring a first-minute penalty before Andrew Savage fed the ball to Alex Lewington to score the opening try and when Arlidge converted, the Green and Whites (or Blue and Whites, as they were in the change strip) had built a 10-0 lead. Pirates full-back Rob Cook replied quickly with a penalty but when Tim Streather went over the lead was 17-3. Despite Cook scoring a try of his own and converting, the visitors held an impressive 17-10 advantage at the break, but finished the first half a man short after Filipo Levi was shown a yellow card.

 

After the interval, things got more difficult when flanker Brent Wilson was sin-binned for an alleged spear tackle that left the Green and Whites with just 13 players and that was the moment that marked a power shift in the match. With the extra men, the Pirates scored a penalty and a second try to take the lead and continued their dominance in the scrum even when Nottingham were back to full strength. It looked like the visitors might be able to bag the points when Sione Kalamafoni showed great strength and persistence to cross the line under pressure from three defenders, but a surge from the scrum saw the Pirates close to within one point before Cook scored another penalty to take the lead for the first time and snatch the points. Heartbreak! (Following the game, Brent Wilson was cited for the tip tackle that earned him a yellow card. He will face a tribunal on February 1 and could face a ban, but has been suspended by the club since the incident in an attempt to save him from further sanctions and have him ready for the final weeks of the campaign.)

 

The club were dealt another blow the following week when their only home fixture for the month, against Doncaster Knights, was postponed due to the unsafe Meadow Lane pitch. The game will now be the final home game of the season on February 12 and tickets for the original game can be used for the new date. 

 

 

Having had an extra week off the team returned to the South West to face the Cornish Pirates again, this time in the British and Irish Cup quarter-finals. Following the positive performance at Mennaye Field two weeks earlier, hopes were high before the game but the young side that has looked good in the tournament so far were found wanting throughout a disappointing showing. Led by Finlay Barnham, Nottingham started well, moving the ball quickly and dominating possession, but they were left to rue their inability to cross the line when the Pirates went ahead through a Ben Maidment try, with bogeyman Rob Cook converting to make it 7-0. It didn’t take long for them to double their lead thanks to a flowing move that began on their own 22. The Green and Whites finally got on the scoresheet with a Kieran Hallett penalty, but this was to be their only score of the game. In the second half, the home side bagged another three tries as they capitalised on numerous Nottingham errors to run out 33-3 winners and come out on top for the second time in two weeks.

 

After suffering their fourth straight defeat in all competitions, the team was able to end January on a high with a victory in the capital against London Scottish. Earlier in the season, the Exiles overturned a 19-point deficit at Meadow Lane before falling to an Alex Shaw try and they were out to prove a point in the return fixture and it was a tough challenge for Nottingham, but their superior strength proved the difference. The game was close and confined in the opening stages and it took half an hour for the deadlock to be broken when Kalamafoni went over the line and a penalty from either side left the half-time score at 8-3. Both teams scored another penalty early on after the break but Nottingham took the initiative with Kieran Hallett notching a third penalty to give the side some breathing space before Tim Streather showed the fans what they have been missing during his injury nightmare as he put the result beyond doubt with a late try.

 

The win leaves the Green and Whites in eighth place in the Championship – just one point away from guaranteeing their place in the play-offs with four games to play – sitting just a single point behind Doncaster Knights and six adrift of fifth-placed Leeds Carnegie, their next two opponents. So, get down and cheer on the boys as they look to gain some momentum ahead of the promotion battle and a return of our city to the top flight.

 

 

Nottingham RFC