Nottingham U17 overcome Caldy 34-10 to progress to the National U17 Cup Final

On Sunday 19 April Midlands Cup Winners, Nottingham U17, reached another milestone in their list of achievements when they faced Champions of the North, Caldy, and came away victorious with a 34-10 win to send them to the final of the National U17 Cup against Sevenoaks on 3 May

This was a tremendous occasion with the Cup game kicking off at 1615 following each of the Bowl, Shield and Plate semi finals all hosted at Preston Grasshoppers RFC

First a thought for Caldy – the elation and joy for everyone involved with Nottingham was disappointment and sadness for them – the upsides and downsides of knockout cup rugby – it was not difficult to see why they had won the North West Cup League and their place in this competition and they were formidable opponents

And so to the game -

Nottingham kicked off into a slight breeze on a firm pitch perfect for running rugby

The early exchanges really set the tone of the match – the Nottingham forwards were excellent in the loose both in attack and defence, and secured some useful turnovers – Caldy were clearly under pressure and were largely starved of the ball for the first 10 minutes and were on the back foot when they did

Meantime the Nottingham backs were using the ball wisely with a mix of plays to test a resilient midfield Caldy defence

The first 25 minutes were all Nottingham in reality and they were much more clinical and precise than some previous games with the scoreboard ticking along to 17-0.

However Caldy were not in any way phased by this and, as all good sides do, they galvanised themselves and the last 15 minutes before the break were played in the Nottingham half with several promising attacks at close quarters one of which saw Nottingham down to 14 after a Yellow for persistent offending – only an outstanding defensive effort at close quarters, however, kept them at bay

Half Time – 17-0 – wind at their backs

The 2nd half started well and Nottingham were back on the front foot initially – in the set pieces the scrum functioned well and was increasingly dominant with a couple stolen against the head, whilst the advantage in line out battle on the day lay with Caldy securing themselves a lot of very good ball

An early Nottingham score extended the lead to 24-0 at which many sides might have seen heads drop – not Caldy

Once again Caldy stepped up their efforts and started to move the ball out wider – this time it was the Nottingham midfield under the cosh from a series of attacks where they matched the forwards with some thunderous tackles to further test the resilience of a Caldy side determined to overturn this deficit

Pressure started to tell and eventually they got their just rewards –

24-5
24-10

20 minutes to go

This was no ordinary match – this was a National Cup Semi Final contested by two sides who know how to win, and don’t like to lose

Whilst the nerves were jangling a little on the touchline, clearly the players were drawing on their experience and steel, and Caldy were once again contained and starved of possession

Nottingham closed quarters and tightened their grip to move the game towards a successful close – first with a penalty to extend the lead to 17 points and then a converted try which would secure the victory and allow the coaches the opportunity to throw the bench on so that they too could experience the intensity of the occasion

And so it ended – 34-10 – an excellent game of 15 man rugby with drama and excitement to entertain the crowd and keep them guessing for most of 70 minutes – congratulations to all

This was once again a composite team/squad effort from Nottingham as it has been all season – as a result of injuries, school and representative commitments, at one point or another I am certain that every squad member has been involved in at least one of either the NLD League/Cup or National Cup games – whilst only 22 can make any match day squad this was for every one of you who have worn the Green and White shirt through the season

This was a composite team performance from 1 to 23, however it would be remiss not to make note of one or two individuals for their contributions yesterday –

Adam Tatham – from a 23 man squad he was the unlucky one not to make the final cut – massive disappointment for him with the final decision only 10 minutes before kick off– big respect that he didn’t let this show and was unwavering in his support for his team mates

Jacob Wright – following his trip to A&E a week ago, and still in some considerable pain on Saturday, he somehow managed to put in another massive shift at 7– awesome

Jack Weedon – following injuries to James Wilkins and Andrew Brown the usual Hooker turned Scrum Half and wore the 9 shirt – such a pivotal position requiring an array of different skills

Gabriel Calland – sometimes a 10 just has to do all of the right things to have an excellent game – with yet another half back partner he distributed wisely and mixed it up well with his boot to keep the Caldy defence under pressure – and not forgetting a 100% record off the tee with 14 points from his boot

Nottingham – Pierre Byworth, James Stevenson, Henry Mawhood, Joe Mcmenamin, Tom Tucker, James Pritchett, Jacob Wright, Jack Dickinson, Jack Weedon, Gabriel Calland, Kaine Buchanan, Greg Fieldhouse, Luca Costante, Oliver Davidson, Jacob Davies

Reps – JP Bennett, Josh Gorodecky, Tobias Adams, Patrick Arron Mulready, Oli Dodge, Angus Bates, Jonny Meal, Adam Tatham
Tries – Dickinson Davies Buchanon Mawhood
Conversions – Calland (4)
Penalties - Calland (2)

Report by Tom Mawhood

Nottingham Corsairs RFC

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