Nottingham Outlaws almost provided the shock of the season in the Midlands Premiership Final when they came within one score of beating reigning champions Telford Raiders.
Indeed, they fought back magnificently from a 16-0 half-time deficit to almost snatch a win, and with two disallowed tries, they came close to pulling off a shock victory.
The Outlaws went into the final as heavy underdogs, having lost both league encounters to the Raiders, shipping over a hundred points in the process, so few pundits gave them any hope of pulling off a shock victory.
Indeed, the omens didn’t look great in the opening quarter when they were heavily penalised by the referee, which meant they hardly threatened at all. On the back of this possession and field position, the Outlaws soon began to leak points as the Raiders built up a 10-0 lead with two tries from their big forwards from close range.
Despite the setback, the Outlaws finally got some possession in the Raiders’ twenty, and Jimmy Goodwin looked like he had opened the scoring, only for the referee to rule for an incorrect grounding.
However, despite the respite, the Raiders swept back down the field and, once again, back-to-back penalties saw the Outlaws under the cosh as the Raiders scored again to go into the half-time break totally in command at 16-0.
The second stanza saw a revitalised Outlaws team hit the pedal from the off, and it soon became apparent that the big Telford front six were rapidly running out of steam in the face of some great Outlaws defence.
Indeed, with the second half barely five minutes old, Gaz Whitfield sent out a raking pass to the wing, which Haz Ashby collected to touch down in the corner, only for the referee to chalk it off for what looked like a harsh decision.
As the half unfolded, the Outlaws began to dominate possession and field position against a visibly rattled Telford team. They were led by Sam Andrews and Jacob Butler, who both began making big inroads into the Raiders’ defence.
On the back of this better field position and a lion’s share of the possession, they finally got the try they deserved when Jimmy Goodwin latched onto a ball from ten metres out and ran over two defenders in the process of opening the Outlaws’ account and cutting the deficit to 16-4 with the clock on sixty minutes.
Sensing the Raiders were beginning to tire, the Outlaws swarmed forward, and they reduced the deficit further when Jacob Butler sliced through the Raiders’ line, beating three defenders on the way for a superb try. Tom Wigglesworth slotted over the conversion to make it 16-10 with ten minutes left to play.
By this point in the game, the Outlaws looked like they might go on to at least level the scores, but some dogged defence by the Raiders kept them out, and they just failed to do it as the final whistle blew with the scoreline reading 16-10 in the Raiders’ favour.
Despite the defeat, the Outlaws had acquitted themselves superbly and, on another day, could have won it. Coaches Shepherd and Bennett were both full of praise for their charges and were more than pleased with the improvement in performance against a team that had beaten them so comprehensively in the regular season.
There were a host of players in with a shout of the man of the match award. Jacob Butler had a superb game in attack and defence, and Sam Andrews made some good yards down the middle. However, there were no complaints when Clarke Squires took the award with an excellent all-round performance with ball in hand and a great defensive stint against his opposite number.
