Nottingham may have been outscored two to one by the reigning Premiership champions but they were by no means outplayed. The Archers scored five tries against a Northampton Saints lineup that included a number of first teamers as the visitors looked to secure a home tie in the knock-out stages of the Premiership Rugby Cup.

It was also the Rugby Against Cancer sock takeover weekend. Their ambassador and Nottingham back, Sam Mercer, was pleased with how the Archers acquitted themselves: “We knew we would be facing a challenge against a Premiership outfit that came with a really strong side but the boys fronted up well to score over 30 points. We went after physicality and I think we brought that, especially in the first half, then the subs also made an impact.”

The Archers led twice during the opening quarter of the match that was littered with handling errors, mostly to the benefit of the home side, fortunately. After just over ten minutes a partial line break by Harry Graham into the Saints 22 put Nottingham on the front foot and, as Sebastian Ferreira was stopped just short, the ball was recycled to Sam Green to dive over; Arden converted.

After Charlie Savala levelled things with the first of his hat-trick of tries, punching it in after a quick tap penalty from a Nottingham offside ten metres out, the hosts regained the lead immediately. Ryan Olowofela took the Saints clearance from the kick off deep in his own half but, after advancing into Saints territory, he executed two perfect chip and chases and, while the full back claimed he was blocked after the second one, winger Graham nipped in to take it over the whitewash.

Once again the Saints responded as number eight Iakopo Mapu crashed over but George Makepeace-Cubitt put the conversion wide left to leave Nottingham with a two point lead.

Nottingham had been displaying resolute goal line defending and, as the game approached the half hour mark the Saints were held up, but the respite was only brief as Northampton took the lead for the first time when a grubber created space for George Hendy to gather and take it in. Makepeace-Cubitt converted from a wider angle than his previous miss.

The visitors employed the bulldozer once again after they were afforded field position following a scrum penalty on halfway but it was scrum half Tom James who found an opening to dive over to extend the Northampton lead.

The penalties were starting to mount for Nottingham, culminating in Jack Stapley being invited to take a ten minute breather by referee Andy Wigley. Savala immediately made the man advantage count. With the conversion missed the Archers had one last chance deep in the Saints 22 but the half ended as it started: with a knock-on, with the score Nottingham 14-31 Northampton.

Northampton kept up the pressure after the break. A scrum penalty to the Saints on the 22 led to a driving maul from the following lineout that Nottingham did well to stall but the ball was worked inside to Tom Litchfield to score under the posts.

Stapley rejoined the fray and tried to run it out of defence but his attempt at an offload struck a Saints player, the loose ball was kicked forward and teenager Rafe Witheat raced onto it to register his first score for his club.

Nottm won a penalty from the following kick off, got their driving maul moving and were rewarded by a penalty try that saw Iakopu Mapu sent to the bin. The euphoria didn’t last long, however, as  Savala immediately notched his hat trick to bring up the half century of points for Saints.

Craig Hammond responded by making a host of replacements, including bringing on Mercer: “I’ve been out for the last eight weeks with an injury and I’ve been working really hard to get back on the field and get my hands on the ball. I really enjoyed it, making a few metres and knocking back a few of their players.”

With five new men in the pack Nottingham won a scrum penalty. The Archers lost the ensuing lineout but Northampton’s attempted clearing kick in their own in-goal was charged down and, given the date, the appropriately named Xavier Valentine pounced on it to record Nottingham’s bonus point try.

The game really opened up in the closing stages and a debut score for Tom Threlfall, the young Leicester loanee who had put in an accomplished performance since replacing Arden after 50 minutes, narrowed the arrears further as he found a gap on the left to dart over.

The Premiership side weren’t done, however, as  Tom Seabrook was released on the left to  gallop in and, with the last play of the game, Archie Benson put the icing on the cake.

The final word goes to Sam Mercer, describing why Nottingham weren’t wearing their usual socks for the match: “Rugby Against Cancer, who I’ve been associated with for the past two years, harness the rugby community to enhance the lives of those living with cancer. It’s amazing with turnouts like this at these sorts of games to raise as much awareness as possible, even if it means a horrendous clash of the blue, white and pink socks! But the more people that know about the charity, the more people can get involved and the more people we can help living with a diagnosis.”