London Welsh
London Welsh v Nottingham Preview
By Mark W-J
February 17 2011
This weekend sees the final round of league fixtures in Stage One of the protracted Championship season. Most of the seedings have been confirmed, but for London Welsh there is a final chance to influence our chances in the knockout stages, with nothing less than five points required if we are to repeat last year’s third-place finish, although we’re still reliant upon Doncaster beating Pirates.
Our opponents this Saturday – as they were on the opening weekend back in August – are Nottingham. Although we won the game at Meadow Lane 27-21, scoring four tries to counter seven penalty goals from James Arlidge, it was the first time we’d collected all five points in Nottingham since 23rd April 2005 when a 40-30 win at Ireland Avenue, featuring tries from Mark Meenan, Dylan Pugh, Will Bowley and Richie Woods, saw us stave off the threat of relegation in Adrian Davies’ last season in charge. And until Bedford’s visit a fortnight ago Nottingham were the last team to claim a try bonus point from a league game at ODP, in their 29-12 play-off win last April. For London Welsh fans that was a game to forget, the moment at which any hope of progressing to the semi-finals had seemingly disappeared completely; indeed, for many the only lingering memory was of the football chants of the visiting supporters. It’s something which was commented on when they had visited earlier in the season, but it seems that it’s not an entirely new phenomenon. In his award-winning autobiography ‘Beware of the Dog’ (out now in paperback from all good bookshops), Brian Moore refers back to Nottingham University’s appearance at Twickenham in the UAU Final in the mid-80s, and the fact that the chanting of the Nottingham crowd, ‘many of whom were football followers and our supporters for that one occasion’ was somewhat different from the singing usually heard at HQ.
Yet while we may try to take the moral highground, the simple fact is that Nottingham’s average attendance has remained fairly constant at just around 1,425 since they moved to Meadow Lane at the start of the 2006-07 season, up 15% on their last season at Ireland Avenue and fully 30% higher than our average over the same period. And like it or not, Meadow Lane does fulfil the majority of criteria for acceptance into the Premiership - not that any of us is allowed to know what the full list, of course – meaning that Nottingham are one of only three Championship clubs with legitimate hopes of gaining promotion come the middle of May.
Before that, of course, they need to overcome the lottery of the play-offs. Having been in seventh place at the halfway point, with just four wins from eleven games, Nottingham embarked upon a six match winning streak throughout November and January – they didn’t play a league game for six weeks from late November until New Year’s Day – collecting 29 points from a possible 30. The last three weekends have brought defeats against all of the top three, including a 40-0 thrashing in Penzance on Sunday. The Green & Whites fielded what amounted to a second-string for that game, having secured fifth place in the table with their 40-15 win over sixth-placed Doncaster in a rearranged fixture last Wednesday. Some people are expecting them to field a similarly unfamiliar side this weekend in order to rest key players in anticipation of the play-offs, but the counter-argument is that you don’t want your first-choice XV to go into the second phase undercooked: and as Phil Greening has stated this week, at this stage of the season it’s all about momentum.
If we are to face Nottingham’s top performers this week then there are a number of players to watch out for. Full-back Dave Jackson (no relation) is getting as many reviews for his comedy mullet & moustache combo as for his rugby at the moment, but with eight tries he is their joint-top try scorer, along with winger Andy Savage, while centre Tim Streather, last season’s top scorer, is currently on seven. Hooker Tom Youngs is the elder brother of England scrum-half Ben; he also began his career at Leicester playing as a centre, switching to the front row after breaking his leg on his Tigers debut against London Irish in December 2006. New Zealand-born fly-half James Arlidge is a Japan international who arrived from Gwent Dragons in the summer and is currently the Championship’s fifth-highest scorer with 237, at an average of over 13 per game. But arguably their best summer signing was Tongan back-row Sione Kalamafoni, who arrived in early September after captaining his country in the Pacific Nations Cup. He made an immediate impact in the Championship, being cited over two incidents in just his second game for ‘recklessly lifting his knee when running into a tackle’ against Rotherham. It may sound like a charge brought by Constable Savage in a Not The Nine O’Clock News sketch, but it resulted in a five week ban; since his return, however, he’s scored five tries in seven appearances.
The play-off pools are almost finalised, with Welsh and Pirates still fighting over third place and the right to avoid Worcester. The Pirates need two points from their trip to Doncaster, who have yet to record a single win in seven games against the top four, while a single point would see them overhauled by Welsh by virtue of games won if we were to claim a bonus point win of our own. Nottingham will finish fifth and face the Warriors in Pool A, while Donny will be sixth regardless of this Saturday’s result, and therefore join Bedford in Pool B. Rotherham entertain Bristol at Clifton Lane, where Welsh, Bedford and Pirates have all been beaten this season; the visitors are on a three-match winning streak but have only returned undefeated from trips to three of the bottom four, with wins at Plymouth and Bees and a draw at Moseley. The winners of that game will finish seventh and go into Pool B; the losers will be the fourth team in Pool A. Simples!
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Only a slight quibble:
"until Bedford’s visit a fortnight ago Nottingham were the last team to claim all five points from a league game at ODP"
ummm, that means they still are, doesn't it? (or did you leave early, Mark?)
'following last years trip to Old Deer Park, when our London Welsh 'friends' took great exception to our drums and posted very insulting comments on their fans forum, there has been a suggestion that the Green Army attend this seasons game in fancy dress. This is the last game of the league season so this is another reason to attend in fancy dress.
i am up for this but i don't want to be the only one turning up as Superman.
we could also be meeting again in the play-off's so we could do it twice!!'
(From the Nottm site)
1. Ben Buxton,
2. Tom Youngs,
3. Martin Halsall,
4. Ian Kench,
5. Craig Hammond,
6. Phil Eggleshaw,
7. Luke Sherriff,
8. Sione Kalamafoni,
9. Tim Usasz,
10. James Arlidge,
11. Cesar Sempere,
12. Junior Sifa,
13. Tim Streather,
14. Andy Savage,
15. David Jackson.
Rep: Finlay Barnham, Jack Cobden, Don Blake, Tom French, Jimmy Stevens, Alex Shaw, Jonny Baird.
According to the Nottingham website:
Tomorrow's game will see Glenn Delaney unleash a strong line-up against the Welsh, with the bulk of his stars without injuries after strategic squad rotation earlier in the month due to a fixture pile-up.
LW 5-3 Nott (Josh Drauniniu)
conv kick
7-3
Quote:Lord knows why - nothing to see. What a gruesome game. We were feeble they were only marginally better. What an advert for the Championship.nld
Notts supporters wearing head torches. How droll.
worst game for ages. Might have felt a bit better if we hadn't gifted them two out of three tries. Their no 8 was head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch
Looking forward to the play offs (not)
Anyone else think the trucker in this video bears a distinct resemblance to the Notts full back yesterday? Nice mullet.
[">www.youtube.com]
Ummm...
The Occies '9s' game on the drenched 2nd pitch was far more entertaining. Some great individual skills including some gorgeous offloads, looped passes,
And I shall never forget the sight of the Rev's dive pass.
And if I wasn't wearing my best togs (and injured besides), I'd have joined them for some of those slides, 'Elfin Zafety be damned.
So what did I see of the 1st XV match? I saw that we threw the game away through two errors (and more besides). I saw that our forwards manned up a bit, although they still look a bit lightweight to me - it comes to something when your props look more like back rows. I saw Hillsy batter himself again. I saw the scrum lottery (wtf was going on this time?). I saw the best s/h we have out there producing much faster ball than we've seen for months.
What I didn't see was many people there.
Thought the game dire to, stupid kicking, poor handling and game management. Thought we'd got in on the bottom corner but alas no.
We really need to pick up on execution, passing out of hand and doing the basics like at the begining of the season; control the ball up fornt, then get the ball to the wingers, I have seen none better than ours and their scoring rate has dropped through central midfield mistakes.
All I hope is that the team get their desire back to go through the semis. We should have put Nottingham away yesterday.
Taken from the Notts forum:
Quote:TangoAlpha
The last visiting team to score 4 tries at ODP was us in the play-offs last year. This time we had to settle for 3 but only as a result of a smash & grab raid. The 2nd ½ stats were : time spent in their ½ < 5 minutes time spent in their 22 < 2 minutes. Tries scored 2.
The northern snows had reached West London as light drizzle which finished before the game started. Nonetheless the game was played on a heavy pitch which suited their team more than ours – 4/5 of their front row on show were big enough to feature in our 2nd row.
The 1st ½ was reasonably even until we got on the wrong end of the penalty count. Kench was binned for killing the ball 5 yards out & they made it 7-3 as their 8 scored with ease from the resulting scrum. Out of nothing Jacko sliced through from near ½ way to complete the 1st ½ scoring. It was a completely windless day & both renowned kickers had missed 1 eminently kickable effort each.
In the 2nd ½ we were basically over-powered with Ross's boot also keeping us pinned back in our 22. They re-took the lead shortly after HT 10-8 & then 13-8 & then from a harshly awarded pen 16-8 surprisingly remained 13-8. Ross also hit the bar from long range. We meanwhile could do no more than bravely defend & try to stave off the inevitable.
With 15 to go Caesar picked off a pass about 10 yards from our line on a rare occasion when they looked threatening wide out & ran the length to score 13-15. The game resumed its pattern until at last in a rare foray we not only got the ball in their ½ but were able to pressure possession too. The result was line out ball to their inside centre was charged down , hacked on & fallen upon by Arlidge 13-22. There was 5 or so to go. The game resumed its pattern but our defiance & pride were immense. 1 instance were they seemed to have opened us up entirely was stopped by a crushing Sione tackle. The game ended deep in our ½ & Sione was binned at the last gasp , but still we held out for what on paper was our best win of the regular season -a win which enabled us to repeat last season's win/loss ratio.
Men of the match were Sione who was not only prominent in the loose, but for perhaps the 1st time very good at the back when the scrum was in trouble & Sifa who nailed his man again & again. Not MOTM Streather who badly missed a 1 on 1 in each ½.
Injury watch Young off in the 1st ½ with what may have been a hand injury – not too serious I'd hazard. Halsall saw the game out -just. The league's leading try scorer Josh D. also failed to see out the 1st 40 pulling up with a hamstring injury.
Next up genuine Taffs who have had 10 days off to prepare for our next mud bath. Any team (us) who lose 100% of their home games do not deserve to progress. They by contrast have not lost in any competition at home for 13 months. With games on Wednesday night & Saturday afternoon & considerable travel involved too team management will have to be careful again with player welfare.
Word has it that our play off visit to ODP will be on Sky. Heaven only knows what day or what time kick off will be , but it won't be late or on a Friday as they are a floodlight free zone.
EDIT: from here [s2.excoboard.com]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:02:20:14:23:53 by dottigirl.
Head torch was a bit of fun as our last visit ended up trying to watch the game in the dark as you have no floodlights
Quote:Notts Forum
Hardly worth the effort of barging one's way round the north circular . What a dreadful game played in a lousy atmosphere. The Welsh seem to regard their season as over (in effect it is) and with their main money man departing at the end of the season and being in the middle of a dispute with London Irish over the payment for loan players makes ODP a pretty depressing place. Koya the best player on the pitch (when he learns to stop running across the field he'll be really dangerous).....
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011:02:21:20:12:11 by nld.
I thought the Nottingham side played OK, though not in the same class as Worcester or Pirates.
Quote:they do that too in nottingum...I know somebody from there who for his annual holiday to Leicester by barge.nld
When I read 'barging' I assumed that he had got the Grand Union Canal and North Circular confused and had actually made the journey by boat.
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