Match Report: PARFC 17 - 24 Nottingham (C'ship)
By A Nomad
September 15 2014
This was a curate’s egg of a match as far as Albion were concerned - good in parts, but poor in others. Having been at Donny last week, I was hopeful that we would see a vast improvement on that performance. To some extent it was a marked improvement. The line-outs worked well, that is except one in each half, more of that later. The scrum again showed promise and were not bullied or overawed by our opponents. The backs whilst working hard have yet to show their true potential for a whole game. As with last week handling errors again cost us dear.
Nottingham had a blitz defence so that as soon as a player received the ball he was being tackled. Albion did vary their game more than last week. There was more of a kicking game from scrum half Ruairi Cushion. Albion started well scoring an excellently worked try created following a line-out. They gained good field position from a penalty into the corner by the PA hut. The ball was moved smartly into the centre where Ben Woods was able to penetrate their defence and score under the posts. An easy conversion followed. Albion were clearly in the ascendancy at this point. Not long afterwards, with Albion pushing Nottingham back at the scrum it was no surprise when their lead was increased; Lawrence Rayner slotting over a penalty.
So that was the good part of the egg, what followed was the bad. A succession of penalties gave Nottingham excellent field position deep in the corner by the changing rooms. From the lineout they scored what seemed to be an ‘easy’ try. This was converted, so the lead was reduced to a mere 3 points.
Albion were still in the game at this point and mid-way through the half came what many considered a controversial decision by the referee. Albion were attacking and a good grubber kick towards the goal line created a scoring opportunity. Full back Foley whilst racing through a gap was taken out with a short arm tackle and laid low. The offender received a yellow card. A similar incident against London Scottish two years ago saw Mr Richards give a red card to an Albion centre. Many thought that Freeman was very lucky to be only having time on the naughty boy’s stool. Although a scoring chance had been prevented it was not in the realms of a penalty try. Rather than use the absence of a large forward to their advantage and opt for a scrum Albion ticked to touch. Albion’s line-out drill let them down as the ball was overthrown and Nottingham gathered the ball and so avoided going further behind. Albion failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage. Again something they need to consider will be how to score points against opponents with a man in the sin bin. They had a similar failure at Donny in the previous game.
Towards the end of the half Albion were themselves reduced to 14 men, with Jubb on the naughty stool for coming in at the side. Nottingham had good field position, in fact similar to where they had scored their earlier try. From the resultant penalty, they opted for a line-out and again were able to score a try which was converted. Whilst still down to 14 Albion lost the ball in contact inside the visitors' half. Nottingham raced up the pitch, putting their winger away who scored - but the conversion was missed. Score now 10 – 19; so Albion had conceded 12 points whilst Jubb was having an enforced rest. They did hold out for the rest of the half. They had been playing into a breeze and up the ‘slope’. Still within touching distance and with the elements in their favour for the second half, it looked a match they could win.
Things looked good at the start of the second half with Albion getting good field position and making the occasional break, but costly errors meant they lost the ball at crucial times. As is usually the case when teams fail to take their opportunities, the opponents will score. The fourth Nottingham try came from a good scrum within their own half; they broke across the field and down the right hand touch line to score. Albion were now two converted tries behind, fortunately the attempted conversion was missed.
The good part of the egg returned with Albion attacking with determination to score. Several attempts to score were made; in one Brett Beukeboom was adjudged to have been stopped short of the line. Albion persisted and eventually Lawrence Rayner was able to run through a gap and score. He successfully made the conversion. Albion now had a losing bonus point. They continued to press and Rayner attempted a long range penalty kick, but it was just wide. He had to endure a lot of crowd noise, it was not intended to put him off, it was directed at the Nottingham physio. Throughout the second half she had made frequent excursions onto the field almost like a demented first aider looking for non-existent patients. Although to be fair on one such visit, which seemed to be unnecessary, the player she attended was substituted at the next break in play.
So with time running, out Albion were pressing for a converted try to obtain an unlikely draw. In a good field position they had a line-out following a penalty, but this was crucially lost with the drill completely breaking down. No one attempted to jump for the ball so Nottingham breathed a sigh of relief and were able to clear their lines.
There had been frequent stoppages in play, but did the referee add on any time? Throughout the second half Nottingham had taken every opportunity to delay the game, be it at taking an apparent age to pack down in a scrum or being treated for injuries. When the whistle went for ‘no side’ it seemed like there had been very little time added on.
The issue of time keeping is a thorny one. In the Premiership the game clock is displayed, the ‘time keeper’ listening to the referee as to when to stop and re-start the clock. In our league that is not the case. Last weekend at Ashton Gate, a ball was kicked off the pitch when the clock was showing 40 minutes. Problem was it was not the game clock. Bristol won the game in the time added on! If we profess to be a fully professional league, should not the display of a game clock be considered for the benefit of all?
Mr Richards is not one of the more favoured referees with either the Albion players or supporters. Certainly on Saturday, some of his decisions were questioned by the crowd. Albion’s discipline has to be questioned - if it is a problem with Mr Richard’s interpretation, we need to understand what he is looking for. We will certainly have further games with him as the sole arbiter of fact. Today Nottingham were the better side and run out worthy winners, but we could easily lose a very close game merely by falling to comply with his wishes.
Nottingham were a top side with ambitions to gain promotion two seasons ago, but last year fell on hard times financially and as a result had a very small squad ending the season in the bottom four. They seemed to have recovered their mojo and no doubt are heading for a much higher position at this season’s end. Albion are still developing as a team; whilst this game was a disappointment, there is light at the end of the tunnel if they improve week on week.
If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.
Come on Albion!
To avoid disappointment, I have lowered my expectations, my parting words to Mrs J before the match " I'll be happy with a losing bonus point ". There were some really good plays, one or two poor kicks and a few daft decisions, but apart from that, was fine by me and I shall be back.
The same applies off the park. We have been doing this for how many years and still run out of beer before full time and that's with a small crowd. The internal communications seem to be poor for some reason. We are supposed to be a professional rugby club and must aim for better standards of performance.
Come on Albi. Oi Oi Oi
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:09:15:10:52:10 by Jethro.
If we can cut out the errors we'll be a match for most in this league.
Come on albion