WEST LONDON SHARKS 16 OUTLAWS 38
Report by Richard Johnson
Nottingham Outlaws stormed into the second round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup when they comprehensively out-played West London Sharks on their way to a stunning 38-16 victory in London on Sunday. Despite fielding an inexperienced squad, with no fewer than 10 regular first teamers unavailable, the young Nottingham stars showed that they had simply too much pace and power for the current Conference Champions to handle.
Going into the match, the omens didn't look good as a series of withdrawls and unavailabilities forced coach Martin Crick to dig deep into his reserves, handing first team debuts to no fewer than four players. Indeed, the wily tactician had to hastily re-arrange his half-back combination, drafting in second rower George Strachan into an emergency scrum half role and debutant Tom Cliffe pulled on the all-important number 6 jersey after joining the club less than a week ago!
As the two teams squared up in the opening exchanges the pattern of play soon became apparent.The larger Sharks outfit immediately began to use their size and power to make yardage down the middle of the pitch whilst the smaller Outlaws players looked to rely on their speed and quick play-the-balls to catch their less mobile opponents on the back foot.
It was the Outlaws wh drew first blood when pacey winger Melbourne Weir spotted a gap at the play the ball and simply scooted round the marker defence and into open space. With half a yard start no one in a Wests jersey was going to catch the young flyer as he sped down the pitch to plant the ball under the posts for the opening try with the game less than 5 minutes old. Stand-in kicker Steve McKinney added the extras from bang in front and the Outlaws took an unlikely 6-0 lead.
Stung by this reversal, the powerful Wests forwards marched down the pitch into the Outlaws red zone, helped along the way by back-to-back penalties and from less than 5 metres out they drove over to level the scores at 6-6.
With the penalty count rising against the Outlaws the home team came close to scoring on two more occasions, only for great defence by Ali waring and Steve McKinney to somehow managing to save certain tries with last-ditch tackles.
Having held their defensive line intact after a period of consistent pressure the Outlaws hit back again and once more they took the lead with a stunning try. This time a short ball from stand-in scrum half george Strachan released the rampaging Dan Reeds and the powerful prop crashed over from short range for a great prop forwards effort. Mckinney added the conversion to put the Outlaws ahead again at 12-6 in their favour.
With the first half clock ticking away it seemd that the Outlaws would go into the break with a slender 6 point lead but their hopes were dashed when the Sharks somehow managed to keep the ball alive on the last tackle, catching the Outlaws napping and a converted try saw the two teams locked together 12-all as the half time hooter sounded.
The half time break gave coach Crick a chance to re-shuffle his cards with Hazeldine, Ephraim and Howard-Clarke entering the fray as the Outlaws tactician looked to utilise the sloping pitch to his advantage in the second half.
The switch around worked a treat within minutes as bustling loose forward Si Perry latched onto a Cliffe short ball and crashed through some weak Wests defence to put the Outlaws ahead for the third time in the match. It was a lead that the Outlaws were destined to keep for the remainder of the afternoon's proceedings!
Once again the home team hit back but stoic Outlaws defence kept the home team out. In a last gasp attempt to breach the Outlaws line the Sharks put up a huge up and under into the Nottingham red zone. With alarm bells flashing the Outlaws defence hesitated before evergreen full-back Phil Artley rose majestically to take the ball and defuse what looked like a certain try for the rampaging home team.
The Artley catch seemed to galvanise the Outlaws spirits and they immediately swept down the pitch, tearing huge holes in the rapidly-tiring Wests defence. They were led by stand-in scrum half George Strachan who scored the try of the game, crashing through the home defensive line on the half way line before rounding the full back for a magnificent solo effort. Steve McKinney added the conversion to make it 4 out of 4 for the young sharpshooter and the Outlaws were two scores ahead at 24-12.
The greater speed and superior footwork of the Outlaws began to make more and more in-roads into the Wests defence and as the Outlaws began to dominate the home team's discipline began to crumble as they gave away penalty after penalty and with it the Outlaws held a monopoly on possession!
With the Outlaws pack dominant the Nottingham backs began to cut loose, led by impressive half-back combination of Strachan and Cliffe. Strachan in particular showed he also has a deft touch to go with his bone-crunching defence and a series of well-weighted kicks kept the home side continually on the back foot. He was aided and abetted by pacey stand off Tom Cliffe wh was having a wow of a debut, defending strongly and cutting through the Sharks defensive line with great footwork and assured handling.
With the midway point in the second stanza approaching, the Outlaws cut loose again and a lovely passing move down the line saw the ball reach Melbourne Weir and the young Meadows flyer ghosted over for his second try of the game. Yet again MckKinney added the extras to make it 34-12 and less than a minute later the scoreboard clicked around to 38-12 as Strachan completed a fine afternoon's work at the office with a try that gave him a deserved brace of 4-pointers.
The Outlaws attacking display was still not finished and yet again centre Steve McKinney released Mebourne Weir on the wing for a carbon-copy try that saw the young winger notch his first hat trick in an Outlaws shirt to stretch the Outlaws lead to 38-12.
To their credit the beaten Sharks outfit did not throw in the towel and they scored a well-worked consolation try but it was too little too late as the referee drew proceedings to a close with the Outlaws holding on to a superb 38-16 winning margin.
Understandably coach Martin Crick was absolutely delighted with the win, adding "I am really, really pleased by the effort put in by the players today. Despite the changes and the re-shuffles forced upon us we have dug deep and shown great resolve to beat a powerful West London outfit with something to spare"
Back-to-back wins in the Carnegie Challenge Cup have seen the Outlaws progress to the second round for the first time in the club's history. An extremely tough-looking match-up against the Royal Navy in Portsmouth on Sunday now awaits the intrepid Outlaws. Yet again they will go into the match as underdogs but if they continue to show the sort of spirit shown in the last 2 encounters they will be in with a shout of reaching round 3 of the competition and a money-spinning match-up against a professional outfit!
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