LEEDS AKKIES 10 OUTLAWS 16 (19/4/2008)

Report by Richard Johnson

Nottingham Outlaws rugby league club completed their pre-season preparations with a superb 16-10 away victory over Northern Premier outfit Leeds Akkies. It was the Outlaws first ever victory over the powerful Yorkshire outfit and made it three wins out of three pre-season games. The win was especially sweet for new Coach Martin Crick as last year he was head coach at the Akkies before being snatched away by the Outlaws to lead their 2008 campaign.

Pre- match omens were not good as a number of players had to pull out with niggling injuries. However a positive aspect of this was that it allowed Coach Crick the opportunity to cast his eye over no fewer than 4 new debutants and also try some new permutations, particularly in the backs.

The match started at a brisk pace and from the kick-off it was clear that the Outlaws had stepped up their intensity of play a number of notches compared to the previous weeks' lacklustre performance. The pace and power of the Akkies team were evident to all on the touchline but the increased intensity seemed to draw out the best in the Outlaws as they managed to repel an early Akkies onslaught with swarming defence and some big hits that seemed to take the home team by suprise. Time and again the Akkies launched attacks in the Outlaws red zone but they simply could not find their way through a committed outlaws defence led by forwards Strachan and Millward whose aggressive tackling stopped the home pack in their tracks.

Having weathered the early storm the Outlaws attack began to click into gear and with the ball in hand they at last began to ask some questions of the Leeds defence. Pacey wingers Foxon and Yorke began to make serious inroads as a series of quick play the balls at last got the home defence on the back foot. Time and again the Outlaws attack began to make good yardage and it was obvious to the worried home fans that the early Outlaws tackling stint had clearly taken the wind out of the Leeds sails.

As the Outlaws began to get on top it was time for a number of their debutants to shine! First to take the eye was rangey full-back Will Thomas who possesses a highly-effective side-step that saw him scoot through the home defence on three occasions in succession only to be hauled down with the line beckoning. Other debutants to show in the first half were rookie loose-forward Nathan Crichton who worked tirelessly on attack and defence and Alex Lewis, younger brother of scrum-half Jimmy, who showed that he could handle everything that the Leeds centres could throw at him.

With half time approaching it seemed like the teams would go into the break scoreless. However, 2 important events changed the shape of the match. First, disaster struck for the Outlaws when stand-off Miles Rutherford had to leave the field with a broken nose after a heavy challenge. The badly-dazed stand-off had been having a great match up to that point and his departure led to a hasty re-shuffle as young Tom Howley was drafted into the number 6 slot. The injury to Rutherford seemed to raise the temperature in the Outlaws attack and in almost the next tackle Adam Millward put in a huge hit on his opposite number that pole-axed the unfortunate Leeds second rower and left him unable to return to the field. From the loose ball the Outlaws scorched up the field. Foxon carried the ball into the Leeds danger zone and on the next play Adam Millward crashed over the line to put the Outlaws 4-0 ahead as the referee drew the first half to a close.

The second half saw the Outlaws playing down the slight slope and the added momentum saw them take control of the early phases of the second half. They began to exert their authority over an out-muscled Leeds pack and with Kemsley, Yeardley and young hooker Kieron Curtis all showing up well in attack it came as no suprise when the Outlaws began to rattle up some points. First up was dazzling full-back Will Thomas who waltzed through a static home defence to notch a superb individual effort and then on virtually the next play he repeated the act before off-loading the ball to Tom Howley who capped a superb performance with a well taken effort under the posts. Centre Ben Thornton calmly added the extras for both tries to put the Outlaws 16-0 ahead and the visitors were in total control.

As the match entered the last quarter the Leeds team at last began to show the stunned home supporters what they can do. The first 60 minutes had clearly take their toll on a tiring Outlaws defence and the home team began to turn up the heat on attack. They began to dominate field position and they were rewarded when Leeds forward Dominic Hitchen bagged a brace of tries in quick succession to pull the score back to 16-10 in the Outlaws favour.

With the Outlaws tiring visibly, The Akkies threw everything they had at the Outlaws who had to withstand virtually constant pressure in the final 10 minutes but the plucky visitors were not to be denied and they deservedly hung on for their first ever victory over their illustrious opponents.

Picking out a man of the match, as always, was very difficult in such a fine team performance. However, the prestigious award was deservedly won by debutant full-back Will Thomas who made a superb debut both on attack and defence despite suffering from a nasty stomach virus that would have laid many players low.

Having endured a stop-start pre-season so far, coach Martin Crick at last looked like he was pleased with the way that the squad is developing. His charges had responded well to his pre-match talk in which he demanded an improvement on last weeks showing and he certainly was well-rewarded with a vastly-improved performance. The Outlaws now have one last week of preparations ahead of them before they travel to Leicester on Saturday for their first encounter of the league season.