Nottingham Outlaws entertained local rivals Sherwood Wolf Hunt at Lenton Lane on Friday evening looking to build on last week’s opening round victory over Birmingham. In hard fought encounter the Outlaws found themselves 12-4 in arrears after a first half in which they were well and truly under the cosh but they rallied with a magnificent second half performance that saw them notch four trys without reply to end up deserved 28-12 victors.
The Outlaws went into the game with a few changes to the side that beat the Bulldogs last weekend, in the pack forwards Sam Bradley and Jacob Rigby came in for their league debuts and they were joined on debut by Nial O’Kane on the wing. Haz Ashby also made a welcome return to the side, slotting into the center berth.
The Outlaws started brightly, and they soon began to ask a few questions of the Sherwood defence and with less than ten minutes on the clock halfback Tom Wigglesworth darted over from short range for a well taken try that nudged the Outlaws 4-0 in front.
Despite further pressure the Outlaws couldn’t add to their tally against a Sherwood side that was beginning to ask more and more questions of the Outlaws defence.
Indeed as the match progressed the Outlaws found themselves more and more on the back foot, not helped by a string of penalties and infringements at the play the ball that starved them of possession and kept them continually on the backfoot. Indeed, Sherwood soon began to turn the screw and on the 30 minute mark they went in front at 4-6 after the Outlaws failed to hold out after conceding back to back sets.
The match was in danger of slipping away from the Outlaws when Wolf Hunt scored again and with the ten first half minutes remaining the Outlaws were trailing 4-12. Not only were they behind but they were in danger of conceding more points as they continued to be starved of possession and field position. However to their credit they dug deep and some good scrambling defence from Coryn Ward and Adam Ward in particular kept the visitors at bay until the first stanza drew to a close.
The Outlaws desperately needed to reverse the flow of the game and coach Shepherd brought on fresh forwards in the shape of Hemmingway, Page and Bradley along with young hooker Jacob Rigby in an effort to breathe new life and legs into the side.
When the second stanza began things didn’t appear to be going well for the Outlaws with their Captain Coryn Ward sent to the bin for a high shot reduced them to 12 men on the paddock.
Despite this short term disadvantage the effect of the half time changes soon became apparent with Bradley in particular making big inroads into the Sherwood line with a series of powerful surges.
With the Outlaws on the ascendancy it was Sherwood’s turn to be on the back foot conceding a string of penalties in favour of the Outlaws and with this advantage the home side began to cut loose!
With their forwards laying the platform, the Outlaws playmakers began to orchestrate proceedings on the pitch. Led by scrum half Tom Wigglesworth and his partners in crime Jacob Rigby and Clarke Squires they opened up a series of chances and they deservedly went into the lead when Ali Waring powered over from short range after Bradley had laid the platform with another powerful burst. Whitfield added the extras from the touchline to reduce the deficit to 10-12 and with only ten second half minutes played it was game on!
The Outlaws were now taking a stranglehold of possession and field position, and they once again got the scoreboard ticking over when a raking Wigglesworth pass found James Hood who drew the Wolf Hunt winger before unleashing Ashby for a fine try. With Whitfield again converting the Outlaws were back in the lead at 16-12.
It was a lead they were destined to keep for the remainder of the game!
With the Outlaws halfbacks finding more and more space to run the Sherwood defence continued to leak points and the next try came on the 65 minute mark with Tom Wigglesworth putting in a superb crossfield kick that was collected by Harry Hemmingway to open his account for the night and stretch the Outlaws lead to two scores at 22-12 with another touchline conversion by Whitfield.
The Outlaws continued to suffocate the Wolf Hunt attack and things looked like boiling over when a heated exchange of views between the forwards saw Wolf Hunt reduced to twelve men. However things soon settled down and the game was put to bed in the dying minutes when Harry Hemmingway completed a fine brace with a short range effort that Whitfield again converted to close out the scoring with the Outlaws sporting a healthy 28-12 winning margin.
After the game the ebullient players waited eagerly to see who had taken the man of the match award. It was a difficult one with so many Outlaws putting in strong performances. Tom Wigglesworth had his best ever game in an Outlaws shirt and Jacob Rigby on league debut proved a huge handful for the visiting defence. However it was an all action display on attack and defence by Luke Wadding that secured him a well-deserved man of the match medal!
