Report by Ant Bullick
Photos by Gav Slater (gallery)
Dom Walsh scored four tries as Nottingham Outlaws saw off Leicester Storm 36-24 in a pre-season friendly at Oval Park to notch their first win in 2011. Walsh also converted three of his scores to haul in 22 points in an impressive afternoon for the young centre.
Nottingham were looking for their first win of the year following successive defeats at the hands of the RAF in the Challenge Cup and the Royal Artillery in the Heroes Trophy. And with the Co-Operative Rugby League Conference National season less than two weeks away, Paul Calland gave run outs to 23 players as he continues to decide on the starting XIII for the new season.
But things did not go according to plan as their East Midlands rivals drew first blood after just 5 minutes. Nottingham's defence was shutting out Leicester's advances but a wayward pass from Storm luckily bounced to their winger who found a route to the try line to touch down. The conversion was a successful.
The Outlaws continued to dominate proceedings and were unlucky not to pull a try back when Oliver Crick and Coryn Ward broke down the left only for Crick to knock-on with a clear run at the try line. Nottingham did find a way through two minutes later as Walsh grabbed his first try of the game following a run from Tom Cliffe down the right.
With the first break approaching, the game being played in three periods of two 30 minute slots and then a final section of 20 minutes, a kick and chase from half-hack Crick forced a goal line drop out and Andrew Cassetari knocked on near the line in the ensuing set of six as the Outlaws finished on top.
Nottingham continued to control the game after the re-start and their play-the-balls when in attack and their line speed when on defence caused all sorts of problems for the hosts. But against the run of play Leicester regained the lead 10-6 three plays after Nottingham were camped in Leicester's half.
Nottingham responded in typical Outlaws fashion and hit back almost immediately when Walsh sliced through the Leicester line to draw the teams level. His conversion gave the Outlaws the lead for the first time in the game.
And two minutes later the lead was extended when, after a strong run from Gabriel McDonald, making his first team debut, hooker Reece Needham released Tom Cliffe, who hit the line perfectly, to sprint over from 30 metres out and grab the score. Stand-off Oliver Beech converted.
Leicester dug deep and slowed down the Nottingham attack at the play-the-ball to slowly but surely work their way back into the game and were rewarded for their efforts when, following an Outlaws drop out, they made the pressure pay to pull within two after the conversion.
The tries continued to flow as five minutes later Walsh grabbed his hat-trick following a superb pass from Crick in the tackle. Walsh made it three from three with the boot. Leicester replicated their luck from their first try as a mis-placed pass from Nottingham bounced kindly to Storm's winger who raced to score the try despite the best efforts of Walsh.
As the third period re-started, Leicester pulled level following a knock-on by George Strachan, although his Leicester counterpart looked offside at the scrum and the Outlaws' captain can feel harshly done by. The Outlaws then grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and dominated the rest of the match as they ran in three unanswered tries.
First, right-centre Jimmy Goodwin twisted and turned in the tackle to touch down against the odds and then hard-working forward Strachan made a forty metre break before passing inside to Crick who scored what he will hope is the first of many this season after an injury hit 2010. Walsh finished off the scoring and capped a fine performance after James Sadler fed the student in the far left corner.
Joint Head Coach Calland was delighted to pick up the first victory of the pre-season. He said: "I was extremely proud of the players out there today and it's fantastic to pick up the first win of 2011 following back to back defeats.
"It was important to come here today and knock off that final bit of rust before we kick off the league campaign at the end of the month.
"With twenty minutes to go I challenged the players to finish the game off and stop trading tries with them (Leicester) and put the game to bed.
"The players went out there and did just that and outscored them three to one in that period. "If we take that kind of enthusiasm into our first league game away at Dewsbury we will start the league season with a win."
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