HAMIANS HAMMERED IN 7 TRY BLITZ

Right from the first whistle, the home side got stuck into the opposition turning over Hamians ball at the initial maul and driving it downfield, whereupon the defence pulled it to the floor and conceded a penalty which the ever reliable Simon Richards coolly slotted on 3 minutes.

At the first Nottinghamians scrummage, the Keyworth 8 put on a mighty drive and took the ball against the head. With a wheeling scrum, Richard Johnson at 8 needed no second invitation to pick up and go blind. After some quick recycling it was the ginger-minger who finished what he’d started and with Richo’s conversion, the score was 10 – 0 within eight minutes.

Hamians woes continued as the Keyworth blitzkrieg was unrelenting with wicked Waldo crashing over from 1m out after a series of pick and go’s by the forwards. Next it was the backs turn and Simon Richards converted his own try when he double belly-swerved his way over from the opposition 22 on a long looping run, selling more dummies than Mothercare.

With 22 unanswered points in the first 15 minutes, it’s hardly surprising that Keyworth took their foot of the gas. With Hamians rallying and home team errors plus everyone thinking they would grab the next score, the spectators were disappointed not to see anything more to alter the scoreboard before half-time.

The interval instructions to Keyworth were to get the next score and quash the opposition hopes firmly and for once it went exactly to script as the evergreen Jason Whelbourne, wiry whippet of this parish, beat two defenders out wide to score from 20m out.

Fair play to Hamians, their heads did not go down and they valiantly pressed with several charges down the middle and with Keyworth conceding more penalties than an Afghani dressage team, they were rewarded with 3 points after a late tackle. Keyworth’s response was rapid and decisive, leading from the front, the Bear appeared to be halted in a familiar drive, when a spin and second surge saw him leave defenders trailing in his wake as he bulldozed over from 40m. Richo duly obliged with the extras to make it 34 – 3 with 55 minutes on the clock.

The next score came 13 minutes later when another scrum against the head saw Johnno feed inside to young tyro Adam Waldron who gleefully crossed for his second score with a dive that Tom Daley would definitely not have bothered including in his repertoire. With a couple of injuries and re-arrangements, Keyworth struggled to prevent their whitewash from being crossed and Nottinghamians got some reward for their persistence and commitment throughout with a try to give away supporters something to cheer about. Last word went to Keyworth as the strong-running Gregsy beat two men to score and Richards slotted the conversion to make the final score Keyworth 46, Nottinghamians 8.

A very solid performance from the home team who prevented the opposition from playing by starving them of useful ball at the set-piece. Good variety in attack to keep Hamians guessing at where the next thrust would come, also added to the armoury. Ian Gregory was awarded Man of the Match by the opposition and Jack Starr was given ‘Dick of the Day’ by his teammates for injuring himself in the warm-up and then confounding the statisticians by actually completing a full 80 minutes, albeit most of the last 30 were spent on the relative safety of the wing as he covered for injuries. Dan Jobson unfortunately suffered from a dislocated shoulder but we hope he’ll be back to full fitness soon. Kris 'Chuck' Norrish impressed in the front row in the second half and Waldo was most fortunate not to be brought up on a charge of ‘jug-avoidance’ for a wild pass out wide to Luke Jones, when the line was at his mercy and which was intercepted. A most heinous crime!

Next Saturday, Keyworth will face a stiff test on the form of St Ives in the next round of the RFU Cup. One can only hope that more than 3 of them can make it to training this Tuesday in preparation for that battle.