London Welsh
London Welsh v Nottingham - Match Preview
By Mark W-J
December 2 2009
After a two week break for the opening rounds of the British & Irish Cup, The Championship clubs are hoping to return to league action this weekend. However, at the time of writing it seems that one and maybe two famous clubs could be out of business before the end of the week, leaving rugby followers everywhere shaking their heads, pointing the finger of blame, and saying ‘I told you so…’
When Nottingham last visited Old Deer Park, in November last year, our then Chief Executive wrote in his programme notes about the exciting new league structure which had just been approved. He spoke of ‘a group of forward-thinking clubs’ - purported to be Coventry, Doncaster, Exeter, London Welsh, Nottingham and Plymouth Albion - who had broken ranks with FDR to accept the terms being offered by the RFU. He described it as ‘a proposal which offers us a way forward. It increases our funding, it provides competition with a meaningful name and sponsor… and it gives us the media coverage we so badly need. We can now concentrate on working towards creating a new and exciting professional league. And we can do this in a spirit of co-operation with the RFU who have made it clear how important the Championship is to the future if the professional game.’
It’s worth remembering that 10 of the 16 National One clubs were opposed to the plans, but the RFU steamrollered the changes through regardless. There was plenty of scepticism on the duckboards and on the internet chatpages of clubs at all levels of the pyramid. It’s ironic that should more than one Championship club be forced out of business then one of the likely beneficiaries would be London Scottish. What goes around…
At the midway stage of our exciting professional league, London Welsh find themselves in 6th place, three places and nine points behind Nottingham. Coincidentally, the two clubs were in an almost identical position at the halfway point last year – Welsh were 7th of 16 and Nottingham 3rd. The Green & Whites’ visit on 22nd November was the start of a run of three defeats in four matches for the Exiles, two tries in four second-half minutes helping the visitors to overturn a 27-22 half-time deficit and claim a 30-36 victory.
That match was also notable for being Danny Wilson’s first game as Head Coach. His record over his first full year of competitive fixtures is 16 wins and 14 defeats, compared to his immediate predecessors Martin Jones (10 wins, 1 draw, 18 defeats) and Adrian Davies (15 win, 14 defeats). However, it’s also worth noting that during Martin’s last twelve months in charge the team recorded 21 wins and 12 defeats.
Like the Exiles, Nottingham have lost to Exeter, Bristol and Plymouth, but in contrast to Welsh they lost at home to Pirates on the opening day and secured a comfortable win at Doncaster. They also beat us up at Meadow Lane in week two, a last-minute penalty from Aled Thomas salvaging a single bonus point (23-16). Their leading scorer, Greig Tonks, has 73 points (13 penalties, 17 conversions) at a rate of 63.8% (Aled Thomas currently 64.9%), while top try-scorers are Tim Streather, Luke Sheriff and Dave Jackson (no, not that one!) with four apiece.
Both clubs go back to the league with a 100% record in the British & Irish Cup. But while Welsh are the competition’s top scorers with 74 points (10 tries, nine conversions and two penalties) and top their pool with a maximum 10 points, Nottingham have recorded two narrow victories at Heriots (5-0) and at home to Neath (14-3). They’re currently second in their pool behind Munster, who have scored seven tries and missed all seven conversions – the two sides are scheduled to meet in Munster in the next round, on 13th February.
Other fixtures this weekend see the teams immediately above and below us in direct opposition, as Moseley entertain the Pirates and Rotherham visit Plymouth. Should results go against us, Sunday morning’s papers could show Welsh drop out of the promotion play-off places. There’s still a long way to go, we tell ourselves – as has been said many times, we’re only just at the halfway point of the ‘main’ season – but given the level of investment in the squad and the tantalising glimpses of how good we can be, it’s both frustrating and worrying that we’ve not yet established ourselves as a solid top eight side. Who would have thought we’d still be bemoaning the points deduction in December? Are we being ungrateful considering where the club was in the summer? And yet, having read the stories which have emerged in the last 24 hours, does the Championship - or rugby at any level outside the Premiership for that matter – have anything to be grateful for? Bah, humbug.
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Stumbleupon02/12/2009 13:44
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As you probably know, this saturday is "Ladies Day" and the 1st XV are launching their calendar in aid of a breast cancer charity. TPTB have asked us to play a curtain raiser for the main event, and so we are playing Rosslyn Park in a friendly. We are kicking off at 11.45 and we would love to have some support from the sidelines.
See you then!
Bryoni
1. Kim
2. Erica
3. Di
4. Grandma
5. Fi
6. Berta
7. Nicky (VC)
8. Ads
9. Miriam
10. Ruth
11. Katherine
12. Leah (C)
13. Bryoni
14. Kat
15. Paula
Also on the bench are James Buckland and Ben Stevenson who are providing cover on loan from London Irish. Nathan Bonner-Evans captains the side.
1. Dorian Williams
2. Dan George
3. Lorne Ward
4. Matt Garvey
5. Matt Corker
6. Nathan Bonner Evans
7. Jon Mills
8. Tom Brown,
9. Nick Runciman
10. Aled Thomas
11. Errie Claassens
12. Paul Mackey
13. Neil Starling
14. Paul Sampson
15. Ed Lewis Pratt
Replacements
16. James Buckland
17. Michael Holford
18. Mike Powell
19. Chris Whitehead
20. Ben Stevenson
21. Gordon Ross
22. Simon Whatling
)
C'mon the bois and gals!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:12:05:14:31:29 by Blackheath Welsh.
1st try Jonathan Mills
conv missed
Matt Corker yellow carded
Well played everyone!!
Some strong views on the Notts forum
Quote:Just the same at ODP a grim match on a grim day ended in semi-darkness just before 4 with them missing a straightforward kick that would have deprived us of a losing BP.
The game was the worst viewing spectacle since our last gasp win at Solihull a couple of years back.
The reason was their one tactic , one tactic & one tactic only of boot it long & see where it gets you. As they also won all our re-starts & were generally sound on their own throw it worked for them.
Remotely entertaining it was not , South Africa without the efficiency & devoid of flair.
Their tries including one very early on came from close in drives.
Our try was a pushover from a 5 yd scrum against their 7 after Streather's 50 yard break ended when he was hauled down a yard short.
Neither of our stand-in 2nd rows completed the match thanks to foul play. Their 2nd row was binned for taking out Carter in mid-air on their 5 yard attacking line. He struggled on for another 5 minutes or so.
Eggleshaw's was a more serious looking injury as he was taken out off the ball – he was unable to put any weight on his left leg as he was helped off.
The Notts fans next to us went apoplectic. Then again, they were easily the worst 'fans' I've encountered at ODP since Coventry a few seasons ago. We were next to them. One had a drum that he kept banging with a wooden mallet. Each time we made a mistake, he shouted 'eeyore, eeyore' for about a minutes duration. It's boorish the first time, when you hear it for the fourth or fifth time, coupled with his drum banging, it's tedious.
To say they were one eyed is an insult to one eyed people.
A female supporter kept screaming 'knock on' at practically every pass we did. The referee was fatherless according to them. Granted a couple of our tackles from Mackey were high, but then to her, all our subsequent tackles were high, even the ones around the legs.
Methinks they've been in a football stadium too long and it's starting to rub off on them.
The ref made endless errors - missing knock ons, forward passes etc from both sides. he also in my mind lost control of teh time - how could we still be playing at 15.55 ???
Regarding the Lighting situation, How come they allow lights for training on the other pitch, but not for Ist XV fixture?
I have heard its the NIMBY's over the road, but most lighting systems flood the pitch not the sky! and they are only used for two months a year approximately,In my view the supporters and the players are being deprieved of the best conditions to watch and play in. No wonder this was injury strun match no one could see anyone coming!
[www.rolling-maul.com]
Quote:eddie57
Lots of comments from Nottingham supporters and others on the Rolling Maul forum - title "London welsh lights" It seems this is a problem elsewhere but an earlier ko would mean hitting the bars even sooner - i don't think my poor old liver could cope
[www.rolling-maul.com]
It's our ground. They'll just have to put up or shut up.
We don't play in a soulless dump of a football stadium like they do.
If we had lights, the knuckledraggers by me would've probably moaned they were too bright.
I thought the eeyores only came with a kick out on the full - which is fair enough and quite funny. But with every mistake...that's daft.
The tackling was better than against Plymouth, but still loose. And a few times some wonderful overlaps were neglected.
But it was a badly needed win. Well done lads.
The last eeyore of the game actually came from the London Welsh support sitting in the stand when Nottingham made a basic mistake so it was catching on.
Loving the sterotyping here about north/south of Watford Gap,no wonder my shoulder is hurting having had a big chap on my shoulder for so long.
07/12/2009 15:10
![[:wor kid:]](/phorum-5.1.15/mods/smileys/images/13.gif "[:wor kid:]")
Quote:notts fan
Point accepted, but whoever chooses the Ko time perhaps should take the shorter days into account, after all people are paying to watch a rugby match.
They are taken into account. During the shorter days, kick offs are at 2pm, rather than 3pm or 2:30pm around the cusp.
Rugby is struggling to attract people and if this had been the first match you had been to you wouldn't have had value for money.
funnily enough it was dark for every team that played on saturday, mine included, its called the weather.
Quote:dottigirl
Have we ever had a KO time earlier than 2pm for the 1st XV?
Never on a Saturday unless it is to avoid clashing with International matches (I suppose that makes it a yes!).
I can't work out why there is so much fuss. I cannot remember us having ever a home game that finished in such gloomy conditions (rain, snow excepting) and 20 minutes of stoppage time certainly didn't help.
An earlier kick-off could affect crowds and probably wouldn't be popular with visiting supporters if they have to travel long distances (i.e. Rotherham on 19th Dec).
It is unlikely that we will ever have suitable floodlights at ODP. Local planning, the cricket pitch and rugby pitch overlapping, permission from the Partnership could all prevent it.
Personally I am prepared to put up with the very occasional problem (once in several decades) when the obvious alternative is the vast, empty, football-orientated space that is Griffin Park. Just like Meadow Lane, the floodlights would be perfect but the rest of it would be a horrible experience.
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