Left Lineout: September

 

With the Rugby World Cup on our screens showing off the oval ball game in all its capricious glory, it’s easy to forget that the new domestic campaign is well underway, that Nottingham RFC have pulled on their hoops and knuckled down for another gruelling season in the hope it will lead them, finally, to the Promised Land of the Aviva Premiership. Our first column is therefore a bumper edition, looking at how the new season has started for a club whose 1980s glory years (admittedly, a fourth-place top-flight finish) saw such luminaries as British Lion Brian Moore, England internationals Rob Andrew and Dusty Hare and Scotland’s Chris Gray competing down at Ireland Avenue, before closing with a glance at how Nottingham’s representatives at the World Cup have been getting along.

 

So what’s been happening with the Green and Whites so far this season? Well, things kicked off at home against the Bedford Blues, a game in which the trusty boot of Kieran Hallett had put the Meadow Lane faithful in good early spirits, before poor lineouts and numerous turnovers gifted the visitors a 13-9 half-time lead. Another Blues try after the break gave them a commanding 14-point lead but a quickfire double from Michael Holford and David Jackson clawed Nottingham back. Then, when Holford went over again, Hallett’s conversion put the team into a shock lead, but hope was short-lived as a late Sean Tomes try gave Bedford a deserved 28-26 victory.

 

After a week of reflection, the team picked themselves up and secured a superb away win, defeating both the weather and a spirited Moseley side. With gale force winds blowing the length of the field, kicking was almost impossible in one direction; with the benefit of the conditions, Birmingham-based Moseley racked up a ten point half-time lead despite being dominated in the scrum. But with the wind at Nottingham’s backs, a superb Hallett penalty from inside his own half got the scoreboard rolling and two tries from Jackson and Joe Cobden completed a 20-10 comeback win.

 

Another strong performance against a heavily depleted Esher side meant important early back-to-back victories. With the visitors missing seventeen players through World Cup call-ups and injuries, they were dominated in the opening stages, Juan Pablo Socino and Michael Penn both going over as the home side roared into a 20-3 lead. Despite a ferocious fightback from the Surrey men, fly-half Hallett kept the board ticking over to ensure a resounding 29-20 victory. Sweeping changes were then made for the British and Irish Cup match against Doncaster Knights, with seven academy players coming in, but the altered team was still strong enough to claim a 33-29 win, with three tries in the opening half hour making for a more straightforward encounter than the scoreline suggests. 

 

The month’s penultimate fixture was the biggest so far, against play-off rivals London Welsh, the side crashing to a 34-23 away defeat. Welsh piled on the pressure straight from the off and two tries in quick succession made it 12-0. In response, tries of their own either side of half time had drawn Nottingham level but three further touchdowns for the home side put them out of sight and brought the Green and Whites’ winning run to a crushing end. 

 

To finish off a solid September, Nottingham were once again involved in a thrilling home encounter, this time against the Rotherham Titans. The Green and Whites went ahead as early as the fourth minute when Ayoola Erinle went over to score his first try of the season. From that point onwards they looked confident and early in the second-half held a commanding 18-point lead over the visitors. Even when Nic Rouse was sin-binned, the only points to go on the board were for Nottingham, courtesy of Hallett, but in an extraordinary end to the game two converted tries from the seemingly dead-and-buried Yorkshiremen snatched two points, stunning Meadow Lane. This leaves the home side in seventh place after five games – disappointing, maybe, but it’s a long season, it’s preferable to being in danger of demotion to the regional divisions (now the game’s fifth tier) as so nearly happened in 2003, and, in any case, reinforcements are on their way…

 

 

Speaking of which: while most of the team has been embroiled in the domestic season, some have been 11,000 miles away battling for rugby’s biggest prize: the William Webb Ellis Trophy. Nottingham has been represented at the World Cup by Tongan Sione Kalamafoni and Japan’s fulcrum, James Arlidge, while old boys Tim Usasz and Junior Sifa have also been in action for the USA. But perhaps the club’s biggest influence has been on a trophy-chasing All Black who has a special place in his heart reserved for the club and the city, for man-mountain Ali Williams (pictured above) has credited Nottingham RFC with giving him the springboard to make it into Graham Henry’s team after two years of achilles injuries had sapped him mentally and physically. Following talks between Director of Rugby, Glenn Delaney, and Henry’s deputy, Wayne Smith, the lock came in January and played four games, as he took his first tentative steps on the road to recovery, having only lasted three minutes of his previous comeback attempt. Ahead of the World Cup, Williams said: “The people there were magic. I still have good memories of that time and I have still got good friends there. It was definitely the start of my road to the World Cup. They let me do what I needed to do physically and the club rallied around me. I owe a lot to them.”

 

Meanwhile, 23-year-old Kalamafoni has been impressing in New Zealand, looking strong and composed as flanker, but will be returning to Meadow Lane soon as Tonga have failed to make the knockout stages despite their shock win over France. But the Green and White to make the biggest impact on the tournament is Arlidge. He has been Japan’s star man, scoring all 21 points when his side gave France a scare in their opening match and bagging another 13 points to earn a draw against Canada on Tuesday, which will unquestionably have put him on the radar of the Premiership’s top clubs.

 

Former Nottingham captain and Scotland international Chris Gray, who played at the 1991 World Cup, said he was impressed by the performances of these players. “From the bits I’ve seen I think the boys have done well. They’ve all done us credit and the club gets a mention alongside them which is nice to hear.” Gray also heaped praise on Arlidge, but not without some concern: “Arlidge in particular did really well in the first game and again in the third game. I have a feeling he might get snapped up by someone else before long. If he keeps playing like that I think there’ll be a time where a Premiership club, a European club or maybe even back in New Zealand will want him which is unfortunately the problem. The nature of the game now is that they get picked off and taken away to greater things.”

 

All three will be welcome returners to the side for the rest of the campaign and if, having competed against the world’s best players, they all stay at Meadow Lane, then their experience can only help spur the team’s bid for Championship success. 

 

 

Nottingham RUFC