Nottingham survive bizarre drama at the death

By LUKE JARMYN

NOTTINGHAMheld on for the narrowest of wins after an unclear grounding of the ball denied Scottish a try at the death.

It came just seconds after Craig Holland’s try had given them hope, only for Alex Walker’s conversion attempt to fall short.

In an error-strewn game 18 points from fly-half Tiff Eden and tries by injury returnee Jimmy Stevens, replacement Ben Brownlie and wing Joe Cobden gave Nottingham their first win in London for two seasons.

Nottingham head coach Ian Costello said: “It doesn’t get much tighter; what a bizarre finish to a topsyturvy game. There was some good rugby but there was some careless loose defence as well.

“We are disappointed with the vulnerabilities we showed and we got caught in areas we shouldn’t have. Even though we were ahead 15-0 our energy was off and then Scottish put us under a lot of pressure.”

Nottingham were on the Scottish try line almost immediately with only last ditch defending by No.8 Danny Kenny halting them.

A catch and drive got them back deep into Scottish’s 22 before No.9 Murray McConnell put Eden in for the first try.

Nottingham maintained their control with a 25m driving maul leading to hooker Stevens scoring.

Against the run of play, Exiles won a lineout deep into Nottingham’s half and fly-half Jake Sharp offloaded to Ben Mosses, who sped through to score.

Scottish were in the ascendancy for the rest of the half and breaks by fullback Fraser Lyle was finished off by Ross Neal ten phases later.

Scottish ended the half with a catch and drive of their own allowing lock Tjiuee Uanivi to put in Mosses for his second.

The Exiles pressure continued and No.9 Walker linked well with wing Connor Hayhow before Neal whipped down the flank to score.

Nottingham hit back with a try to hooker Brownlie before replacement Darryl Veenendaal weaved past Hayhow and put Cobden in at the corner to take the lead.

Scottish continued to utilize their pacey backs and after a lineout drive fell just short, the ball went wide to replacement Craig Holland for the last minute try.

Scottish coach Dave Morris said: “We got over the line there but were deemed held up, it’s really fine margins.

“We wanted to make this game chaotic for a very structured Nottingham, but there were some simple skill errors. I’m proud that after their strong start we worked our way into it but they just kept coming.”

TEAMS

SCOTTISH: Lyle 8, Hayhow 7, Neal 8, Mosses 9, Scott 6, Sharp 7 (Holland 73, 7), Walker 7; Harris 6, Miller 6 (Van Vuuren 66, 6), Cringle 6 (Appiah 53, 6), Mills 5, Uanivi 6, Tyas 7 (Milne 51, 6), Atkinson 5, Kenny 6. Not used: Waldren, Baillie, Hoadley, Holland

NOTTINGHAM: Scanlon 8, Robinson 6, Evans 9, Lyons 7, Spittle 6 (Cobden 53, 9), Eden 8, McConnell 8 (Veenendaal 65, 8); West 7 (Sio 70, 5), Stevens 6 (Brownlie 40, 6), Burke 6 (Stuart 51, 6), Holmes 9, Qualter 7, Morris 6 (Poullet 49, 6), Coghlan 9, Buckley 7 (Everard 65, 7)

REFEREE: Anthony Woodthorpe

ATTENDANCE: 800

Star man

Tom Holmes – Nottingham