Nottingham do enough to thwart Cambridge

■By LUKE JARMYN

Nottingham ……21pts

Tries: Ecclesfield 27, Roper 41, Allen 60 Conversions: Parks 28, 42, 61

Cambridge …….17pts

Tries: Eckersley 14, J Green 29, Doorey-Palmer 49 Conversions: Mausia 50

GWYN Parks pinpoint kicking perfection from the tee ensured Nottingham got back to winning ways against a resurgent Cambridge side who bellied their bottom of the league position.

In front of a packed-out crowd, and played in atrociously muddy conditions at The Bay, the sides were evenly matched but for the home fly-half ‘s sturdy kicking display.

At full-time, Nottingham’s joy was matched by Cambridge’s heartbreak as the visitors’ winless season continues.

Celebrating his 50th Notts appearance, flanker Sam Green said: “I’m pretty proud of our win, it felt dark out there and we needed 23 men in the engine room tonight given the conditions but we grounded out the win.

“It was shove rugby towards the end to keep Cambridge out. There’s no easy games in the Champ, Cambridge did really well to put us under so much pressure. We dug in, hoped we were disciplined enough to exit without being penalised and get the pressure of your shoulders.

“We just about did that, and it makes it a special night for me as it’s nice to mark the special journey we’re on together.”

Cambridge dominated early on, and from a scrum on Nottingham’s five-metre line flanker Arthur Thomas powered to the right post but was a whisker short before captain Dan Eckersley nipped over inside a quarter of an hour.

A scrum penalty in the 25th minute helped relieve the Archers pressure, and from a lineout on the right they went through the phases for lock Jay Ecclesfield to score.

Within a minute Cambridge were back ahead, a penalty and a scrum led to No.9 Ruaridh Dawson’s perfectly weighted chip for Josef Green to slide over in the right corner.

Nottingham scored almost immediately from the second-half restart, a quick scrum set up inside centre Jasper Sorrell to sprint in from 30 metres.

A series of phases led to Cambridge hooker Jack Doorey-Palmer burrowing over at the marquee end to give them a one-point advantage, but on the hour mark an Archers maul marched over with replacement Arthur Allen scoring the winner.

Cambridge head coach Craig Newby said: “We feel heartbroken, we were the better team. A couple of areas we came up short particularly our maul but tactically we were excellent, our kick-chase was spot on, we won some big moments and showed lots of maturity.

“We didn’t look like a bottom of the table team. It’s heartbreaking when we deserve so much more and we need to learn to execute when it’s on the line.”

TEAMS

NOTTINGHAM: Williams (c) 8, Rokomoce 7, Christian-Goss 7, Roper 8, Graham 6, Parks 9, Yarnell 7 (Goodwin 49, 6); Sio 6 (Stott 45, 6), Dickinson 7 (Allen 49, 7), Scharink 6 (Richardson 45, 6), Ramply 6 (Etete 60, 6), Ecclesfield, S Green 9, M Green 7 (Wright 61, 5), Cherry 7 (Rees 64, 5)

Not used: West

CAMBRIDGE: Currie 5, J Green 7, Reweti 6, Sorrell 5 (Mills 77, 4.5), Qaniuci 5 (Rokodrava 60, 5), Mausia 5, Dawson 7; Ellwood 8, Doorey-Palmer 8 (Irvine 72, 5), Walker 8, Fulford 8, McCay 7 (Lawrence 72, 5), Thomas 8 (Baxter 59, 5),

Eckersley (c) 7, Timpson 6

Not used: Maka, Masoe, Thompson

REFEREE: Andrew Jackson

ATTENDANCE: 1,188

Star player

Sam Green – Nottingham