KIPPAX KNIGHTS 26 OUTLAWS 22
Report by Ant Bullick
Photos by Christa Lam-Cassettari
Nottingham Outlaws were unlucky to only come away with a bonus point following a spirited performance in the face of adversity against Kippax Knights on Saturday.
The Outlaws made the trip up north with a make-shift side and were leading with five minutes to go before conceding a try to lose 26-22.
George Strachan almost drew the sides level with two minutes remaining but was hauled down two metres short of the try line.
Nottingham went into the game off the back of a disappointing display against Dewsbury Celtic last weekend but showed no sign of a repeat performance with what head coach Martin Crick described as, "the most enthusiastic performance in a considerably long time."
A long injury list, international call-ups and other unavailabilities has forced Crick to chop-and-change the line-up all season.
Will Ephraim (hand), Nick Cooper (hamstring), Bryn Waldram and Alex Hazledine (both work) all pulled out as the week went on depleting the match-day squad further to the extent that Crick joked he would have to pull an Outlaws jersey on himself!
Above: Adam Millward and James Sadler look to subdue a Kippax attack
Nottingham were up for this game from the first whistle and were well marshalled in defence to stop Kippax making yards down the pitch and they built on this to draw first blood.
Jimmy Lewis fired a pass wide left to Melbourne Weir who hooked the ball back infield and the bounce beat everyone except Freddie Humphries who collected the ball and bullied his way over to plant the ball. Lewis kicked the conversion to make it 6-0.
Weir turned from provider to scorer five minutes later after excellent work in the set from Oliver Crick, starting the game at scrum-half in place of club captain Paul Calland who was missing due to work. Oliver Crick caused Kippax problems with a jinking run and off-load early in the tackle count before finding Weir wide left with a bullet pass two plays later.
Kippax have enjoyed a positive debut season in the Rugby League Conference National and went into the game sitting in 4th spot and the league new-comers were clearly rattled at being 10-0 down.
Things went from bad to worse for the Yorkshire outfit when Leon Crick kicked a penalty following a high shot on Humphries and two minutes later the home side found themselves a man down after a sin-bin for another high shot.
Despite the man-disadvantage, Kippax pulled a try back with 12 minutes left in the first half. Andy Cassetari, who replaced the injured Simon Morton at hooker, was taken into touch by four Kippax defenders to give them good field position to work with. The conversion was successful.
The last 10 minutes of the half provided the crowd with action and entertainment as both teams went in search of a score before the break.
First Kippax had a good opportunity after Simon Chilcott coughed the ball up in a tackle but the centre, enjoying a fabulous season with the Outlaws, made up for it with a huge hit on the try line to force a knock and save a score.
Unfortunately for Nottingham, Kippax got the ball back after Stewart Redhead knocked on at the play-the-ball and worked it left from the resulting scrum to close the gap to two points.
Weir then had a try disallowed for a foot in touch and Kippax felt the pain of having a try chalked off for a forward pass that an American Football quarterback would have been proud of. The Kippax players protested and had another sin-binned, this time for dissent.
Above: Leon Crick takes on the Kippax defence with a trademark darting run
As the first half drew to a close, Lewis attempted a drop-goal but missed wide right.
Kippax were left fuming at the referee's decision for their disallowed try but the official's calls went their way in the lead up to a Knights' try two minutes into the second half.
Weir seemed to be the victim of a grapple tackle which went unpunished and then Chilcott was adjudged to have knocked on despite Kippax hands in and around the ball.
This set Kippax up nicely in Outlaws territory and a high bomb on the last tackle bounced off raised hands in the try area before falling kindly into the arms of the waiting Kippax centre as they took the lead for the first time in the game.
The Outlaws didn't let this faze them and found their enthusiasm shown in the first half and regained the lead ten minutes later through Strachan.
Kippax were penalised for yet another high shot, this time on Cassetari, deep in their own half and two plays later Lewis found Strachan and the loose-forward powered his way over. Leon Crick missed the conversion to leave the Outlaws in front by two.
Kippax were pulled up for another high shot ten minutes later which had the same end result as the Outlaws extended their lead.
Cassetari and Lewis combined to find the on-rushing Chilcot who battled his way over the line. Leon Crick got the conversion to give the Outlaws an eight point advantage.
With just two subs on the bench, fatigue began to set in as many of the forwards had played every minute of the contest at a high level.
Kippax started to find their feet on the pitch and a penalty on the line against the Outlaws proved one set of six too many for the battling Nottingham defence.
Leading by just two points, Nottingham were not able to find another try and with five minutes left conceded the match winning try. Their centre broke the line and was dragged down by Weir inches short of the sideline but Nottingham were then punished for a second-effort to get him into touch.
On fifth and last the referee then pulled up Nottingham for offside which again gave the hosts a new set of six at the Outlaws try line. Kippax managed to find their way through again to touch down and scored the conversion to make the scores 26-22.
Despite the end result, Martin Crick could not have been more pleased with the way his troops played.
He said: "The lads have gone out there today and played their socks off. They could have easily had the mindset that we are missing players and only have two subs and that we had no chance.
"But they have put in the most enthusiastic performance I have seen from them in a long while. I could not have asked more from them.
"The likes of Freddie and Matt Abbott were superb. They stepped up and had big games. They weren't afraid to take the ball up or get involved with a tackle and this released a lot of pressure and work-load off the likes of Adam Millward and Strachan.
"Everyone took responsibility and shared the load throughout the team. Steve Page was my man-of-the-match. He just kept taking the ball up field and kept going all game.
"Things are looking more positive for next weekend. Nathan Walmsley will be back from international duty and Chris McNamara, Si Perry and Dom Walsh should all return too."
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