Match Report – Nottingham 17 – Caldy 29

Unfortunately, we had no-one at Nottingham last Friday, to do a match report, so a big thank you to Nottingham for letting us use theirs.

“With the temperature approaching zero, Nottingham were beaten convincingly by Championship new boys Caldy, who came into the game in high spirits having won their last two, including a dramatic 26-24 victory over top of the table Ealing Trailfinders.

The game started with both teams looking lively, though it was the visitors who got on the board first 10 minutes in. They kicked a penalty won deep in Nottingham territory to the corner. They then turned the lineout into a driving maul and pushed their way over the line.

Nottingham responded immediately, though, working the ball all the way up the pitch. Ryan Olowofela slipped through a gap in the defence right on the try line to finish off the move and level up the score.

The rest of the half was very much played in the centre of the park, with neither team really able to carve out many clear-cut chances. That was until right before half time when Caldy won a penalty and kicked it to the corner to set up another driving maul. Ollie Hearn eventually got the ball over the line to give the visitors the lead heading into the break.

The second half started the way the first finished, with the Ravers putting points on the board. The scrum half, Chris Pilgrim spotted a gap in the Green and White defensive line and scampered through it to extend the lead.

Npttingham responded well though. Having just come off the bench, Morgan Bunting did well to dance around a number of would-be tacklers to break away from the defence. He was eventually caught at about the 22, but Nottingham kept countering, and a few moments later David Williams finished in the corner to slice Caldy’s lead to just seven points.

The home side created a few more chances in the following minutes, but Caldy stayed strong in defence and were able to stop them from becoming anything more and even managed to get three points back with penalty from 20 metres out.

They then put the game to bed with just over 10 minutes remaining. They rumbled their way through the Nottingham defence with another driving maul. Sam Dickinson was the man who got the ball down over the line to score Caldy’s bonus point try and extend their lead to 17.

Nottingham did find a consolation try in the closing minutes when the captain Josh Poullet darted through a gap in the defence and passed it over to Michael Green to beat the last man. It wasn’t enough to secure a bonus point though, and the final whistle blew moments later.

The result sees Caldy leapfrog Nottingham in the league. Craig Hammond’s men find themselves in ninth place ahead of their clash with Doncaster Knights next weekend.”

This Saturday we Host Bedford Blues at Paton Field. 2 pm KO. We hope to see as many of you as possible.

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