Nottingham left it late to claim victory in their second and final pre-season fixture against Ampthill. It was a match of contrasting styles with The Archers looking to play expansive rugby at every opportunity whereas the Bedfordshire outfit preferred to repeatedly drive into contact.
That being said, it was up front where Nottingham asserted dominance early, winning a scrum penalty after knocking on from their own kick off.. The kick to the corner led to a maul from which Jack Dickinson darted over the line. Gwyn Parks’ attempted conversion went narrowly wide left.
Harry Graham was looking particularly lively, releasing Kegan Christian-Goss after showing a clean pair of heels to beat a number of opponents down the left touchline in the eighth minute, but Ampthill’s Veremi Qorowale got across to make the try-saving tackle.
That only temporarily stemmed the tide however as, after a quarter of an hour, another penalty was kicked to the corner. A cheeky throw to the front of the lineout was immediately returned to Dickinson to run in unopposed in the left hand corner. With the wind against him Parks was unable to convert.
Soon after there was beautiful interplay between Ryan Olowofela, Graham and Will Yarnell that the whole ground thought had resulted in the diminutive winger crossing under the posts but the referee pulled it back for a forward pass on the 22.
Despite The Archers’ initial dominance the final 10 minutes of the half belonged to Ampthill, the catalyst being when they turned defence into attack by intercepting a chip kick within five metres of their own try line and kicking themselves into Nottingham territory. With the aid of a couple of penalties they were able to turn the pressure into points when hooker James Isaacs drove over the line. Josh Barton converted to reduce the arrears to 10-7.
Ampthill were immediately back on the offensive. Again, the Bedfordshire side were helped by ill-discipline by the home side, who were one frank conversation between referee and captain away from being reduced to 14 for persistent infringements. In the last act of the first period someone other than a hooker, in the form of Richard Barrington, crossed for the score. With Barton on target once again, Ampthill took a 14-10 lead into the break.
Nottingham re-found their free-flowing rugby after the interval and it wasn’t long before new signing Sam Mercer showed great strength to take a horde of Ampthill defenders with him across the line in the left hand corner to make it 15-14 to The Archers.
But, much like the end of the first half, Ampthill once again started to dictate play, culminating in Lekima Ravuvu going over near the posts and Barton adding the extras to put the away side back into the lead.
David Williams had made probing runs a number of times since coming on early in the second half and in the 57th minute was able to make inroads into the Ampthill 22. He found Charlie Myall with a looping pass and the Leicester loanee sped over the line. Matt Arden had replaced Parks but unfortunately he too couldn’t convert, leaving the score at 20-21.
Nottingham were handed a real opportunity to take the lead when Ampthill were reduced to 13 men after two yellow cards in quick succession, the second one for collapsing the maul inside their own five metre line. The Archers were unable to make the pressure count immediately, however, as The Mob won a penalty from the scrum.
Nottingham did ultimately take advantage though as, with just less than five minutes to go, they stole a lineout on their own 22 then worked their way up the pitch by going coast-to-coast several times to exploit the space created by Ampthill’s depleted numbers. Myall was once again the grateful recipient of the final pass and he dotted down near the posts to give Arden the easiest kick of the evening, which was duly converted to give Nottingham the 27-21 victory.