BRAMLEY BUFFALOES 18 OUTLAWS 10
Report by Ant Bullick
Nottingham Outlaws battled back from 18-0 down at half-time to gain a deserved bonus point in an 18-10 loss to high-flying Bramley Buffaloes on Sunday.
A magnificent defensive effort in the second half from the Outlaws laid the foundations for the fight back following an early blitz of tries from Bramley.
Nottingham's season has got off to a stuttering start and there is no worse place to travel than the Arthur Millar Stadium when looking for a win with Bramley being undefeated at home in three years.
The trip up north was not made any easier when two players dropped out injured when Melbourne Weir failed to recover from a bicep injury and Harry Mostyn dropped out with a stomach bug. Alex Hazledine was drafted into the 17 at the last minute.
Head coach Martin Crick was also unable to call upon the services of club captain Paul Calland due to work commitments, Simon Perry (foot), Rob Brown (mouth) and Tom Tsang (shoulder).
Oliver Crick moved from hooker to half-back to partner Jimmy Lewis and Simon Morton moved from the pack to play hooker as M Crick looked to mastermind what would have been a famous victory.
However, things did not start well for the Outlaws as after ten minutes Richard Hulme touched down to draw first blood. Nottingham knocked on in their own half to grant Bramley excellent field position and the Yorkshire outfit made Nottingham pay for the penalty and some poor tackling. Tony Williams added the extras.
Things went from bad to worse for the Outlaws a minute later when Williams grabbed a try of his own. Jon Nicholls' show-and-go on the half-way line opened up the Nottingham defence and the loose forward sprinted 30 metres before playing an inside ball to the supporting Williams and the half-back took it the rest of the way before converting his own try to make the score 12-0.
Bramley made it 18-0 with 20 minutes gone in the half. A grubber kick looked to be heading straight through to full-back Nathan Walmsley before the ball took a wicked bounce and evaded all the Nottingham players and Williams swooped in to grab his second try of the contest. Williams landed his third successful conversion to make it 18-0.
The Buffaloes' cries that Nottingham had given up seemed to spur the Outlaws into a response. For the rest of the half the players regained their discipline in defence and, had they also found their composure when in possession, could have pulled points back before the referee's whistle signalled half-time.
The second half started with a knock on by the usually reliable George Strachan and a Jimmy Lewis kick being charged down and M Crick was visibly frustrated at the mistakes and let his players know it.
The head coach got the response he wanted when Dom Walsh pulled a try back for the Outlaws 60 seconds later. Stand-off Lewis got this kick away on time and the grubber was picked up by Walsh and the winger raced away to touch down. Walmsley made it 6-0 with the boot,
For the rest of the half, Nottingham's defensive effort was faultless as they kept out the Bramley attack despite numerous attempts to breach the Outlaws line. Centre Simon Chilcott, loose-forward Strachan and prop Dan Reeds all standing out for making big hits and giving 100% in every tackle.
The award for best tackle however went to prop Adam Millward. Bramley winger John Richardson raced down the right hand side and looked to be heading for the try line after missed tackles from Chris McNamara and O Crick only for the Staffordshire hitman to pop up from nowhere to take Richardson into touch.
Five minutes after the best tackle of the game came undisputedly the best try of the game.
The Outlaws were deep in Bramley territory on fifth and last looking for a way through to close the gap further. As McNamara was wrapped up by four Buffaloes defenders, most people in the ground waited for the turnover on downs but McNamara somehow found room to offload the ball to Lewis. Lewis gave the ball to the bloodied Millward who himself offloaded in the tackle and the ball was kicked out wide by Walmsley to Walsh who cut inside and fed the supporting Nick Van Buren who crashed over for the try.
There was a real sense of belief back in the Outlaws camp that they could go on to the win the game and did not give up going for the win until the referee bought the fierce battle to an end.
Head Coach Martin Crick said: "I was very proud of every single one of my players out there today for the effort they put in and feel we had a real chance getting a win today.
"Unfortunately it wasn't to be despite a truly superb defensive effort in the second half. Injuries are not helping at the minute but the players really stood up and did the club proud today Tom Cliffe, Matt Abbott and Alex Hazledine stepped up and delivered which shows the strength in depth at the club is developing nicely.
"There was so many candidates for man-of-the-match but the player that stood out for me was Van Buren. He ran excellent lines and was always there around the ball. It was an outstanding performance from the youngster.
"It is the club's first bonus point in this league and it was thoroughly deserved. The players battled the only way the Outlaws know how. It hasn't been the best start to the season but we came up here and put in our best performance yet. For us, the season starts now."
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