A-team scrape past Nottingham

A-TEAM IN ACTION
By Stefan
November 6 2005

EARTH Titans A-team dogged out a win against Nottingham in the tightest of battles played out at Herringthorpe Stadium yesterday, finishing 20-17. The victory lifts the A-team into clear second place in the NCA Northern Merit Table behind Doncaster having played one less game.

This encounter was tough. It forced the A-team to dig deep into their resources to produce a result from a contest in which they did not play well.

After the shakiest of starts they managed to drag themselves back into the game to dominate the latter stages, Charlie Spon-Smith's 78-minute penalty sealing a hard fought victory.

Nottingham were gifted the best possible of starts; a lazy pass in the first move of the game was intercepted by grateful backs who ran in under the posts virtually unopposed. The conversion gave them a 7-0 lead before the minute mark was up.

The lively visitors, encouraged by their early success, put the home side to the sword with their powerful scrum shunting them off their own ball on a number of occasions.

The signs were looking ominous for the Titans who were lucky not to go further behind. However, the Titans weathered the storm and mounted their first attack which produced a snappy drive from the pack near the visitor's posts. Ben Wade was driven over on 9 minutes and the conversion from Spon-Smith levelled the score at 7-all.

Too many missed tackles, possession kicked away too many times and poor scrummaging characterised the lack lustre performance. Poor tackling allowed Titans' pre-season trialist, pacey Alex Hayman, to go over on 15 minutes to score Nottingham's second try, the conversion giving the visitors a 14-7 lead.

The Titans' fight back created a penalty in the Nottingham 22, given for handling in the ruck, and Spon-Smith clawed the score back to 14-10 on 17 minutes. The home side managed to put together a number of promising moves but lacked cutting edge; perhaps missing the guile of Gareth Brear and power of ND Monye who were on first-team duty at Clifton Lane.

The score remained 14-10 to Nottingham at half time. 

With second half adjustments to the scrum the Titans managed to seize control back from the visitors, thanks to their forwards who responded manfully to the challenge demonstrating once again their character and determination.

They wreaked havoc in the Nottingham 22 for sustained periods throughout the second half, eventually winning a penalty try for repeated scrum infringements on 60 minutes. Spon-Smith again converted giving the home side a 17-14 lead and Rotherham's pack continued to dominate.

Such was the home side's strangle hold on the second half that the visitors only managed one visit to the Titans' 22 which resulted in a difficult penalty kick from wide left. Alex Hayman's super kick levelled the score for the visitors at 17-17 on 72 minutes.

The Titans once again dug deep and produced the best move of the game on 74 minutes.

An attack involving forwards and backs first moved the ball out wide to the right then quickly wide left. Quick passing and super interplay between centres Will Kirtley and Duncan Richardson produced a four-to-one overlap wide right with acres of space for a clinching try in the corner. However, the referee adjudged that the final pass was forward and brought them back for a scrum.

The disappointment only served the increase the Titans' determination. Now dominant, they 'upped-the-anti' before the late penalty, given for handling in the ruck in front of the posts, sealed the 20-17 victory.

Earth Titans:
Tom Outrim; Dave Bolton, Duncan Richardson, Will Kirtley, Gareth Morley; Charlie Spon-Smith, Alex Drage; Jamie Kilbane (Adam Hopcroft 50), Adam Hopcroft (Jonny Larby 50), Sam Walsh, Tim Maslanyk, Nathan Pike, Ben Wade (Greg Burnham 54), Joe Earp (Nick Barrett 48, Greg Burnham 51, Rhys Moon 54), Richard Sawyer (Ben Wade 54).

Titans Scorers:
Charlie Spon-Smith (2P2C), Ben Wade (1T), Penalty Try (1T).