A thirty-two man Ampthill squad travelled to Nottingham for the only pre-season friendly ahead of the new Championship season.
Nottingham had already played Leicester Tigers last Friday and looked a little more cohesive in the opening exchanges and took two minutes to open the scoring – their captain Jack Dickinson going over from a maul in the corner. Parks pulled his kick short 5 v 0
With the game split into four quarters the hosts dominated the first – the Ampthill midfield lead by co-captain Fraser Strachan working hard to contain a quick Archers backline.
Nottingham doubled their advantage just before the first break – a similar try to the first from a line out and maul, again Parks pulled his kick short. 10 v 0
By the start of the second quarter the Mob were growing into the game and with Barton pulling the strings they started to gain territory and dominate possession. Nottingham defence held firm.
The Mob got their first score on 32 minutes – Barton pinged a penalty deep into the corner, the line out set the platform and debutant hooker James Isaacs burrowed through a gap from the maul to score. Barton added the extras. 10 v 7
Ampthill continued to dominate possession and again got their reward on the stroke of half time. A penalty for a deliberate knock-on 5m out gave Richard Barrington the opportunity to tap and go for the Mob second try. With Barton again on target the Mob lead at half time 10 v 14.
Nottingham made multiple changes for the second half. In contrast Ampthill came out with the starting XV but the hosts quickly restored their advantage – a quick break down the left finished by the wing. Conversion missed 15 v 14
Ampthill scored their third on 50 minutes – great work by the forwards in the gold zone with multiple phases before number eight Kima Ravuvu crashed over. A third successful kick from Barton 15 v 21
The hosts pinned us back again just before the third water break – a well worked try across the field finished by the wing Myall. Conversion missed. 20 v 21 with 20 to play.
Ampthill almost emptied their bench for the final twenty minutes and they introduced some new energy into the game. Debutant centre Imi Qorowale broke the line and should have scored but tripped in the 22 with a certain try awaiting. A little ill-discipline from Ampthill saw us reduced to 13 men with twelve minutes to play. With Hardman off, Lutui moved to tighthead and ex-Academy captain Noah Fawcett made his 1st XV debut at hooker much to his fan-clubs pleasure!
Despite the numerical disadvantage the Mob defence held firm to wave after wave of Nottingham attack until the 78th minute when their backs fed Myall for his second try and with it the game.
Following the game, Paul Turner had this to say “It was a really good exercise tonight, the result could have gone either way at the end. What is probably more important is us spending more time together as a group. We are a completely new squad and time together over next 2 weeks will be crucial for the start of our league campaign.
The game showed us where we are. We will come together as a team now – we’ve had more players arrive this week and really only trained together for the first time on Wednesday. We saw a lot of positive stuff tonight our energy and workrate was contagious. I like that.
“Hard work will always beat talent when talent doesn’t want to work hard”
Together we’ve got big fortnight ahead.”
Starting XV
1 Richard Barrington 2. James Issacs 3. James Johnston 4. Kennedy Sylvester 5. Oskar Hicks
6. Aidan King 7. Valentino Mapapalangi 8. Lekima Ravuvu 9. Rory Morgan 10. Josh Barton
11. Mason Cullen 12. Fraser Strachan 13. Vereimi Qorowale 14. Wilson Ijeh 15. Benji Joseland
Reps:
Harrison Courtney, Dom Hardman, Noah Fawcett, Aleki Lutui, Jake Parkinson, Karl Main, Barney Merrit, Carl Burgess, Declan Murphy, Evan Mitchell, Fin Parker, Oran McNulty, Archie English, Tom Barton, Joe Warner, Gavin Williams, Joe Adams.
Ampthill Points Scorers:
Try: Isaacs 32, Barrington 40, Ravuvu 50
Conv: Barton 33, 40, 51
