Nottingham Outlaws winning run came to an end on Saturday when they succumbed to a 36-32 defeat at the hands of play-off rivals Birmingham Bulldogs on Saturday, The defeat leaves the Outlaws in fourth place after five rounds of fixtures, one point behind fifth place Coventry Bears.
The Outlaws went into the game sporting a number of changes to the team that beat Coventry last timeout, including a welcome return to the fold for loose forward Jacob Butler and Luke Wadding going back into the fullback position.
The Outlaws started brightly and they took an early lead when Aiden Butler waltzed through the home defence after a show and go which Rigby converted to make it 6-0 to the Outlaws after only two minutes of play. However, the Outlaws lead lasted only two minutes when Birmingham levelled at 6-6 following some slack drift defence leading to length of field try for the home side.
Despite the reversal the Outlaws continued to dominate possession and field position and they were rewarded with two quick fire trys when Jack Jonson opened his account with a fine finish from good hands out wide and then two minutes later he crashed over again from short range to make it two in the gamee. Rigby converted to put the Outlaws 16-6 ahead with fifteen minutes played.
Any thoughts of an easy Outlaws win were soon put to bed and not for the first time this season it was their defensive frailties that proved their undoing! Indeed, some outright poor tackling saw Birminham run in three unanswered trys before the interval that put the home side out in front at 22-16 when the halftime hooter sounded.
A good start to the second half was imperative if the Outlaws were to stay in the game but the poor defensive work on show at the end of the first half continued in the second when they conceded a soft try with only one second half minute played followed five minutes later that saw the Bears stretch out to a 30-16 lead.
Indeed, the Outlaws at this point had shipped no fewer than 24 points without reply!
To their credit the Outlaws reduced the deficit with a fine solo effort by Captain Coryn Ward who latched onto a ball by John Dessington but the Outlaws comeback didn’t last long with Birmingham restoring their advantage with a try that stretched their lead out to 36-20.
As the clock ticked down the Outlaws picked up the pace again and Jack Jonson sped down the line for a fine solo effort that wrapped up a fine hat trick for the long striding centre and when Jon Hemmingway scored from a quick tap penalty twenty metres out the Outlaws were back within one score at 36-32. However with only thirty seconds on the clock it was too late to snatch an improbable victory and the final whistle went with the Outlaws on the attack but having run out of time in their quest to snatch an improbable victory.
There were a few good performances in the race for man of the match but the trophy deservedly went to hooker Jon Dessington for a busy afternoon on attack and defence.