Nottingham Corsairs U14s v Chesterfield Panthers U14s

After a stirring victory for the Azzurri over Scotland and a thriller at Twickenham, we were all revved up for another great match at Nottingham Corsairs. Despite a couple of players being struck down with the lurgy (get well soon Leo and Ian) the squad eventually assembled at Corsairs, having done battle with traffic and road closures. The weather was dreich and we had to keep the lads moving to stay warm. Corsairs coaches are a friendly bunch. They looked a little weary, but were full of tales of a fine day out at HQ, including meeting Joe Marler, George Ford and Alex Dombrandt. We had a decent warm-up with a bit of snarl from the pack. Blaine was appointed captain for the day. We were ready to go: Panthers kicked off at a couple of minutes after 11.

Chesterfield started brightly, giving Corsairs little space and no undue respect. Some good harrying delivered a loose ball just a few yards out. Ollie W pounced and dived over for the opening score. The difficult conversion went astray but Panthers led 0-5. A slippery ball and a soft surface was always likely to means errors were likely and so it proved.

The referee’s interpretation of the laws at ruck time was interesting and proved challenging for the visitors. Chesterfield had had the better of the opening exchanges, but a handling error gifted possession to the hosts and they scampered away for a breakaway try. The conversion was missed, 5-5.

More decent attacking play and Sam ran hard to get over under the sticks. Sam converted his own try for 5-12. The restart from Nottingham didn’t go 10m and Panthers opted for the scrum on halfway. The attack shaped up nicely, but Corsairs grabbed an interception and raced away for their second try. It is often difficult to determine the difference between good line speed and blatant offside at all levels of the game. This try was converted and the scores were level at 12-12.

Panthers won a line out when play resumed in a promising position but a knock-on ended the half. The new look front row of Ben R, Max and Dylan all carried well with Ben and Dylan getting in some trademark charges. They enjoyed the upper hand at scrum time too, with the Corsairs pack going backwards. The locks, Ben G and Ollie W, went well on both sides of the ball. Ollie enjoyed his try and Ben enjoyed flattening the hosts’ scum half. The back row of William, Alfie and Jack were everywhere. William carried well and all of them out themselves about in defence. Alfie secured good ruck ball. The half backs, Blaine and Sam H, put in typically belligerent displays. Blaine never stopped working and Sam got in some good breaks, including his try. The centres, Dyfan and Oscar, looked dangerous in attack. Dyfan tackled like a demon and took his try with customary aplomb. It wasn’t the day to be a back three player, but Harry at full back and the wings David and Jacob all worked hard, looked dangerous in attack and were brave in defence. Will SS came on at flanker and worked hard. Ollie B came on at scrum half and distributed well. Josh slotted into the wing berth and worked his socks off as usual.

Nottingham kicked off the second half and Chesterfield attacked down the left. William carried well but the ball was lost at the ruck. The eagle-eyed touch judge had spotted a high tackle and signalled to the referee. Penalty Panthers. The game continued at pace. Dyfan straightened the line and ran hard to get over for a fine solo try. The conversion was successful, and the visitors led 12-19.

More spilt ball and Corsairs scuttled away for another breakaway try. They couldn’t add the extras and the game was finely poised at 17-19. Chesterfield kicked off. Nottingham dropped the ball in their own third. The referee took a long look and announced that the ball had gone straight down. No knock-on. Corsairs scooted downfield and took advantage of some startled Panthers defence to dive over and take the lead 22-19. A simple conversion made it 24-19. The visitors came again and won a line out, but it was a little loose. Panthers attacked from their own 22 in the dying moments. It was now or never. A slightly wild pass was picked off by Corsairs and they raced under the posts.

With the extras the score was 31-19 and that’s how it ended. The lads were gutted as they knew they had let a game they could, perhaps should, have won slip away. Corsairs were great hosts and we look forward to playing them again at Dunston Road and hopefully reversing the result. David was awarded player of the week for a battling display in defence. Thanks as always to our support, especially for turning out on a soggy Mothers’ Day: we can’t do it without you.