Nottingham started the brand-new Championship Rugby season in fine style as, after doing the double over Doncaster Knights last season, they made it three wins on the trot, picking up a try bonus point along the way.
With the fringes of Storm Amy making conditions difficult at The Bay, the Archers bookended the first half with tries while keeping their opponents scoreless, taking a 12–0 lead into the interval. But the home faithful would have been wondering if that was sufficient, knowing that the Knights would have the wind at their backs in the second period.
It was a sentiment echoed in the Nottingham dressing room, as described by flanker and player of the match Michael Green: “We knew that we needed a big second half, that wind was massive. We wanted to play our way, not camped in our own half, and we showed that we could stick to our game plan and get it done.”
And get it done they did, as they didn’t allow Doncaster to cross the whitewash until the closing stages but added two more tries of their own to run out convincing 26–8 winners.
There was barely a minute on the clock when Harry Graham broke out of his own 22, drew the tackler just inside his opponents’ half and set Evan Mitchell free to race over for a try on his debut from a full 40 metres. Gwyn Parks converted.
Despite the wind being in Nottingham’s favour, they weren’t really able to use it to gain territorial advantage for most of the half. Instead, they had to rely on resolute goal-line defence on more than one occasion, turning the ball over and clearing twice, then managing to hold Donny up over the line around the half-hour mark.
The Archers weren’t having much joy with their line-out in the blustery conditions either. That was until the closing stages of the first half when, initially set up by a hard and low 50:22 by Parks, Nottingham were able to apply a prolonged period of pressure, aided by repeated infringements by the visitors.
With the clock in the red and advantage being played, Donny were possibly spared a yellow card as David Williams drove over from close range. The ball blew off the tee during the conversion attempt, with Parks only having time to snatch a drop kick that narrowly missed.
It wasn’t until approaching 10 minutes into the second period that the visitors got on the scoreboard. Much to the consternation of Doncaster coach Darren Fearn, his captain Ben Murphy opted for a shot at the posts when his side were awarded a penalty just inside the Nottingham half. Russell Bennett was able to strike it straight down the middle to slightly reduce the deficit.
The Archers hit back almost immediately, however, as, first, Jack Dickinson piled over from close range after Parks had set up great field position with a penalty kick to the corner, then Green further extended Nottingham’s lead when he darted in. Both tries were excellently converted.
Green is enjoying his new role as a try-scoring flanker: “I love it, I can get the ball in my hands a bit more and a bit more contact. It’s a big jersey to fill with [last season’s club captain] Nathan Tweedy gone, but I’m trying to hold it down for him. Tonight I was in the right place at the right time. I just picked and goed, but the boys had already done the work.”
Sale Sharks loanee Will Wootton, on his Knights debut, registered his side’s only try of the evening with five minutes remaining, but that didn’t really take the gloss off a fine performance and result for Nottingham.
