Report by Richard Johnson
Photos by Gav Slater (gallery)
Nottingham Outlaws made the long journey into deepest South Wales on Saturday to play the newly-promoted Welsh Champions Valley Cougars.
Despite a brave performance from a young Outlaws team they ultimately lacked the fire-power to deal with a physical Cougars outfit and they succumbed to a 44-20 defeat.
With joint Outlaws coach Paul Calland missing the game it was down to his coaching partner Simon Morton to draw up the battle plan, but the wily young coach had his hands tied with a host of unavailabilities to contend with. Adam Millward was the most notable absentee after losing several teeth in last weeks encounter at Dewsbury and the absence of Walsh, Brown and Harris meant that Morton had to re-shuffle his pack and back-line prior to kick off, handing league debuts to newcomers Jimmy Goodwin and Matty Wylde. Also back in the side in the unaccustomed position of full back was Oliver Crick whilst James Sadler slotted in at prop to replace the unfortunate Millward.
Despite the long journey it was the Outlaws who started the brightest, putting the big Cougar pack on the back foot with a series of quick play the balls. Indeed the game was only 3 minutes old when the Outlaws stunned the home crowd by opening up the scoring. Prop Dan Reeds went on a surging run into the heart of the Valleys defence and a clever scoot by hooker Reece Needham saw him go close but he was just held up short of the line. The Outlaws were not to be denied however and on the next play stand-off Oliver Beech threw a smart dummy before powering over the line from 15 minutes to put the Outlaws in front. The powerful stand-off then went one better by adding the extras to make it 6-0 to the Outlaws.
Stung by this reversal the Cougars hit back and within a minute they opened their account when a silly penalty for ball-stealing gifted the Cougars possession in the Outlaws red zone and they scored easily after poor Outlaws defending. Things then went from bad to worse when the Outlaws failed to learn from their errors, giving away another penalty for ball-stealing that once again invited the Cougars back into the Outlaws red zone.
With yet more poor defending on show the Outlaws leaked another try and the Cougars hit the front at 10-6 with 12 minutes on the clock.
The match continued to flow from end to end and on 17 minutes the
Outlaws levelled matters. A superb Strachan surge saw the nuggety
loose-forward break through 3 tackles, taking them into the Cougars 20 metre area and winning a penalty after a high shot on the Outlaws skipper. On the very next play the Outlaws swung the ball out to the right again and over went centre Jimmy Goodwin for a debutant try that levelled the scores at 10-10.
Having battled back to level the game the Outlaws coach was close to tearing his hair out when yet again the Nottingham players were guilty of giving away a soft penalty for ball stealing on the last tackle and once again they were punished as the Cougars swept in for a try to lead 16-10.
Despite the set-back the Outlaws kept moving the ball around the field and a superb backline move saw Tom Cliffe release Melbourne Weir who scorched down the pitch to score out wide to peg the score back to 16-14.
With 10 minutes to go until the break the match appeared to be in
deadlock but some lacklustre defending and yet more silly penalties by the Outlaws gifted the closing stages of the half to the Cougars.
Two more penalties enabled the cougars to set up camp in the Outlaws red zone and they swept in for 2 quick tries that tilted the match in the home sides favour and left the Outlaws with a mountain to climb as the referee brought the first stanza to a close with the Outlaws trailing 28-14.
The half time options were running out for Coach Morton as injuries to Crick, Strachan and Sadler reduced him to one available interchange and with the team carrying a number of knocks it came as no surprise when the Outlaws were immediately under the cosh from the restart.
The Outlaws defended well in the opening exchanges of the second stanza but as the Cougars piled on the pressure the Outlaws eventually cracked. With the clock on 50 minutes the Cougars capitalised on a repeat set in the Outlaws danger zone to score the opening try of the second half and a second converted try two minutes later saw the Cougars stretch out to a 40-14 lead and the game had affectively gone from the Outlaws.
With 25 minutes still to play and influential centre Tom Cliffe having to leave the field after a horror-tackle by the Cougars, the visiting fans feared the worse but to their credit the Outlaws rallied and they somewhat surprisingly took control of the remainder of the match. With the larger Cougars pack starting to tire and the Outlaws defence at last starting to function they launched a series of attacks that saw them dominate territorially and after Weir and Harrison went close they were rewarded for their efforts when an outrageous back-handed
offload from Jimmy Goodwin unleashed Freddie Humphries who powered over from short range for a deserved try which was converted by Beech to cut the arrears to 40-20.
As the clock ticked down the Cougars at last launched an attack after being stuck in their own half for much of the last quarter and they made the most of an unfortunate bounce to score in the dying seconds and wrap up a deserved but somewhat flattering 44-20 win for the Welsh champions.
As the players sat in the bar contemplating what might have been, all eyes turned to the man of the match award. A few players were in the frame, especially hard-working prop Dan Reeds who took over the pack leaders role from Adam MIllward and captain George Strachan who dragged himself back onto the pitch after a nasty head injury to lead from the front. However, it came as no surprise when young scrum-half Mike Harrison took the trophy for a superb display on attack and defence. The rookie half-back has slotted into the half-back role at the Outlaws with gusto and looks to be the find of the season.
Despite the defeat, coach Simon Morton remained up-beat adding "it’s been a difficult opening 2 matches for the Outlaws but I'm confident that our first win isn't too far away. Not many teams will travel to South Wales and come back with anything and I thought we more than matched them for long periods of the game.
“Once our young team starts to gel we will give more than a few teams a shock in this league. However, these things take time and we are just going to have to be patient until then but I have seen enough in the opening 2 matches to know that we are close to our first win"
Things don't get any easier for the hard pressed coach however with the Outlaws facing a tough-looking trip up the M1 next Saturday to face an inform Kippax outfit that are hotly-tipped for a play-off spot.
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