Confidence in Crane as winger re-signs

Posted on May 18, 2012 in Nottingham

In one scintillating passage of play winger Rhys Crane earned a contract extension with Nottingham.

The 26-year-old is the first player to pen a new deal with the Green and Whites for the 2012/13 RFU Championship, adding to the 13 players already contracted for the new campaign.

Despite enduring a nightmare season, which amounted to three cameo appearances and more than 13 months on the sidelines with injury, Crane’s potential could not be ignored.

From little more than 100 minutes of game time, between recovering from knee surgery, a broken jaw, a debut lasting just 30 seconds and a career-first red card, he still found time to convince Nottingham Director of Rugby Glenn Delaney to re-sign him.

It was his explosive impact off the bench against London Welsh in the final match of the season, putting on a big hit to win possession before crossing for a try with his first touch of the ball, which sealed it.

“He earned his contract off the bench that day. He showed us exactly what he is about, adding energy and enthusiasm to the game at a time that it was lacking on the pitch,” Delaney said.

“He showed fantastic desire to play for this club, his attitude, application and potential is everything we look for in a player.

“He is clearly a talented player who had a horrendous season with injury. That broken jaw that took him out against Esher in December isn’t the sort of start anyone wanted for him.”

With a thorough understanding of Crane’s recent injuries, Delaney didn’t hesitate in signing the athletic back.

“He is no more of a risk than any other player, he proved his fitness at the end of last season and has put those knee problems behind him,” Delaney said.

“We are not worried about what’s happened in the past, we are only concerned about what he can do for us in the future.”

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Nottingham pay tribute to “Captain Fantastic”

Posted on May 11, 2012 in Championship, Nottingham

Nottingham Rugby’s most decorated captain is leaving the club for the opportunity of a life-time in Hong Kong.

After a decade-long career with the Green and Whites, skippering the side a record 227 times, Craig Hammond has accepted a job as player-coach of Hong Kong Scottish.

Until the 33-year-old lock got a phone call out of the blue from the Oriental rugby hot-bed, he was considering a contract extension to stay with Nottingham and was busy planning his testimonial year with the RFU Championship club.

But when invited to tour the facilities of the Premiership club in the City-State last week, Hammond simply couldn’t resists taking the bold step into management and penned a two-year deal with the outfit.

Having recently guided Midlands One East club Ilkeston to Derbyshire Cup glory, the New Zealander clearly indicated that he was thinking hard about life after playing.

“It’s been an emotional decision to come to, leaving a club, a city and people that have been so good to me for so long for an exciting chance to further my career in an amazing place like Hong Kong,” said Hammond, who will be relocating with his wife and three children in June.

“Sure, I could see myself playing at Nottingham for a few more seasons, but this opportunity is just too good to knock back.

“I’ll be mentored in coaching at a high level, working with both the Hong Kong Rugby Union and an ambitious side like Scottish.

I’ve just turned 33 so it’s a perfect time to transition from playing to coaching, which is what I’ve always wanted.”

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Huge test awaits Welsh defence against Blues

Posted on Apr 25, 2012 in Championship, English Rugby, London Welsh

London Welsh’s defence will have to overcome its most fierce examination if the club are to reach their first-ever Championship final.

The Exiles face old rivals Bedford over two legs for a place in the Championship final, having twice previously missed out in the semi-finals.

Bedford’s Goldington Road will be the venue for the 1st leg on May 4 (kick-off 7:45pm), with Old Deer Park hosting the return game on May 13 (kick-off 3pm).

“Bedford Blues are a very good attacking side – the best attacking side in the league by far,” said Jones.

Welsh will go into the semi-finals in confident mood on the back of last Saturday’s 33-25 win over Nottingham at Meadow Lane.

The Exiles had already guaranteed their place in the last four, but Jones resisted the temptation to ring the changes ahead of the semi-finals.

Instead Jones fielded 13 of the starting line up which secured the Exiles the point the club needed against Bristol the previous week to book the club’s third consecutive semi-final appearance.

“We’ve got a big gap between Bristol at home and the first leg of the semi-final, and I didn’t want too much time with the boys with their feet up. We felt it was beneficial to go up to Nottingham with as few changes as possible,” said Jones.

“There were some good parts to our game [v Bristol] and there were some not so good parts.

“Throughout the season boys are given a chance to play and at the end of the season it’s up to me to make the call on what is the best side. Boys have come in and they’ve taken the opportunity, fair play to them, and I have to respond to that.”

One of those changes from the Bristol game saw club captain Jon Mills make his first start since December 3.

“It will be interesting to see how Jon Mills come through from his foot injury,” said Jones.

“We’re not in a bad state considering where we were in mid-season with 13 injuries. We’re in good spirits and we’re in good health, and looking forward to the next challenge.”

Ten points down early on against Nottingham, the Exiles produced a strong second half display with Seb Jewell crossing twice, while goal kicker and full back Alex Davies finished with 16 points. While pleased, Jones was not entirely satisfied.

“I was delighted, but to be honest I didn’t doubt that we were going to win. We’re confident at the moment and we’re playing with a nice bit of flair – we just need to lay the platform to be able execute more,” said Jones.

“We conceded 17 points before the break and that’s inexcusable. We have to deal with our opening half; away from home we were just a little bit too open.

“Having said that we came back and played some really good rugby and just failed to get a bonus point.”

For Jones, though, last Saturday’s trip to Nottingham was all about the performance and not the result.

“It’s about playing without fear and trying to get the game going and trying to put some impetus into it. On Saturday it paid off, other days it doesn’t,” he added.

“We just needed to get Nottingham into an open game. Nottingham are a really good side up there. They’ve got a well organised defence and we had to work hard to break it down, but eventually we did find some holes and were able to capitalise.”

Team news: London Welsh team v Nottingham

Posted on Apr 20, 2012 in Championship, English Rugby, London Welsh

Semi-final place assured, London Welsh head to Nottingham on Saturday knowing that victory could yet see them top Pool A should Bristol slip up at home to Doncaster Knights.

The Exiles’ late fight back against Bristol last weekend at Old Deer Park may have come too late to prevent them going down to a 26-20 defeat, but it did secure Lyn Jones’ men the point they needed to guarantee a third consecutive Championship semi-final appearance.

Welsh, though, will first need to take care of business against Meadow Lane – a ground where they’ve already tasted defeat this season.

The Exiles were comprehensively beaten 26-10 when they travelled to Nottingham in December, with Ed Jackson crossing late on for Welsh’s solitary try.

That defeat brought to an end a three consecutive wins for the Exiles at Meadow Lane, stretching back to the 2009/10 play-offs, when they won 17-10.

Welsh also came out on top 27-13 at Nottingham during the 2010/11 play-offs, having also recorded a 27-21 victory at Nottingham during the regular season.

When the two sides met earlier in Pool A, the Exiles came out on top 32-31 thanks to three tries in a nine-minute purple patch from James Lewis, Nick Scott and Adam Brown saw Welsh secure a round 1 victory.

London Welsh: 15. Alex Davies, 14. Joe Ajuwa, 13. James Lewis, 12. Hudson Tonga’uiha*, 11. Nick Scott, 10. Gordon Ross* ©, 9. Jack Moates, 1. Shawn Pittman*, 2. Dan George, 3. James Tideswell, 4. Adam Brown, 5. Matt Corker, 6. Lee Beach, 7. Mike Denbee, 8. Ed Jackson.

Replacements: 16. Vili Ma’asi*, 17. Tom French, 18. Greg Bateman, 19. Gary Johnson, 20. Jon Mills, 21. Rob Lewis, 22. Seb Jewell.

* Denotes full international

Patience is key for Green and Whites

Posted on Apr 13, 2012 in Championship, English Rugby, Nottingham

NOTTINGHAM hard man Joe Duffey says the Green and Whites must not be overawed by the must-win situation against Doncaster at Castle Park on Saturday (2.30pm kick-off).

Only a bonus point win will ensure that Nottingham stay in contention to advance to the RFU Championship semi-finals.

While Nottingham have already beaten the Knights four times during the campaign, and notched up record wins against the South Yorkshire side in the process, the hooker isn’t getting carried away.

“We know what to expect and what we need to do, but we really don’t want to get too excited,” Duffey said.

“If we want to play well, we need to have a cool, calm and collected build-up. If we get sucked into getting too hyped up for something like this, then we will end up doing things that we wouldn’t normally do.”

Duffey also warns that focusing too hard on needing a four-try bonus point win invites undue pressure on the side.

“We can do it, we can get the tries, but we can’t get in our head that we need to come up with four tries, because that is only going to get us wound up. And when that happens you are in danger of trying too much stuff.

“We need the tries, we know that, but they don’t all need to come at once.”

According to the experienced campaigner, it is a game of patience that Nottingham will need to rely on.

And when it comes to taking a stronghold of proceedings over 80 minutes, the 29-year-old New Zealander sets the benchmark.

“I’m not there to be pretty, I’m there to do the hard yards,” Duffey said.

“What we’ve noticed with Donny is that they have a tendency to be up at half-time, even against the better teams, and then they seem to run out of puff. Once they are tired we have to strike and play smart.

“If we work them hard in the scrum and in line outs, then they are going to be tired and there will be holes popping up either on the fringes or out wide.”

Nottingham director of rugby Glenn Delaney has made three changes to the side that draw 19-all with Bristol at the Memorial Stadium.

The Green and Whites’ most prolific play-off try scorer Tim Streather comes in at his preferred position of outside centre, replacing the injured Andrew Forsyth.

Matt Parr is promoted to the starting side ahead of loose head prop Michael Holford. Former England international Ayoola Erinle has also recovered from a niggling leg injury to take his place on the bench.

Nottingham Rugby side to take on Doncaster: 1 M Parr 2 J Duffey 3 R Bower 4 C Green 5 N Rouse 6 S Kalamafoni 7 Wilson 8 F Levi 9 S Romans 10 Arlidge 11 A Savage 12 Socino 13 T Streather 14 A Lewington 15 D Jackson.

Replacements from: 16 M Holloway 17 M Holford 18 C Hammond 19 A Shaw 20 F Barnham 21 K Hallett 22 A Erinle.