2014-15 Team photo
After a summer packed full of exotic sporting shenanigans of the Copacabana variety, the recent onset of Arctic winds and howling rain have heralded the return of some proper sport. Yep, dig out your waterproofs and grab a pint of mild, the RFU Championship is back.
However, even the most ardent of Nottingham Rugby fans might find it hard to get all that excited about this season. Now, if that sounds like an unduly pessimistic assessment of a campaign that is less than five weeks old, let’s consider a few points that paint a far from glowing picture of what lies ahead over the next six months. Firstly, though you could argue we were unlucky in an awful lot of games last season (and we were, losing an astonishing eleven games by five points or less) the simple fact is that for vast chunks of the year we just weren’t very good. Yes, on its day the pack was up there with the best in the division, but the complete over-reliance on the forwards and the total disengagement of the backs was a formula that consistently added up to defeat.
Secondly, and I know I’m going to come across all Steve Claridge here, but the Championship is incredibly strong this year. Far stronger, I would argue, than it has ever been before. Perpetual nearly-rans Bristol appear to finally have everything in place for a long awaited return to the Aviva Premiership, and with their new home at Ashton Gate and a hugely impressive 23-19 victory over Worcester Warriors on the opening weekend under their belts, they’ve thrown down the gauntlet early on in what promises to be a thrilling battle at the top of table. Make no mistake, however, Dean Ryan’s Worcester side are not far behind. With a big recruitment drive over the summer and a roster boasting star names like Chris Pennell, Gerrit-Jan van Velze and Andries Pretorius, as well as young talent like Charlie Mulchrone, Sam Smith and Ryan Bower lining up to prove their metal, last year’s relegated side will be gunning for an instant return to the big time.
Action from Yorkshire
It’s not just Bristol and Worcester that look a cut above the usual Championship standard either. London Scottish will improve if they cut out the silly defeats – including at the hands of the Green and Whites – that hurt them so badly last season. Bedford have added some muscle to their pack in a bid to shore up the set-piece frailties that were exposed over the course of the last year, while the newly rebranded Yorkshire Carnegie and the Rotherham Titans are both capable of dishing out a beating when the wind is with them.
Just as worrying as the talent at the summit of the league is the quality towards the bottom of it. While Ealing were kind enough to show up last season and ensure that, no matter how bad we stunk the league up at times, there was always going to be at least one side worse than us (even if they too showed in doing the double over us quite how low we sunk at times last season), there is no standout candidate for relegation this year, no whipping boys willing to gleefully serve up points to the most bedraggled and desperate of sides. I suppose it’s a testament to the sport that the Championship really is growing, although that's scant consolation to Nottingham.
Amid the league’s growth in quality, though, there is also the ongoing battle for bums on seats. While the takeover and restructuring at the back end of last season appears to have resolved the club’s financial problems (for now, anyway) something desperately needs to be done to attract new supporters, or to try and lure long-time fans back to fixtures. Meadow Lane was eerily quiet on far too many match days last year, quieter even than Ocean after the students go home for summer, all of which further fans the debate over the possibility of a move to Lady Bay. But that’s for another day.
Action from Bedford
So, to the drawing board. In addressing the first issue, it has to be said that Martin Haag and the backroom staff have done a tremendous job. Nottingham Rugby’s own summer recruitment initiative has been a roaring success, with quality as well as quantity being added in the areas where we needed it most. A quick shuffle through the roster reveals the best part of forty players on the books, which, given that at times last season getting a match day squad together came perilously close to dishing out jerseys in the Market Square, is a huge improvement.
Securing the signature of Tonga international Vilame Iongi could prove to be a superb piece of business, while some of the younger faces brought in from the Premiership have already shown in flashes quite how exciting their potential there is.
The second issue is, of course, out of our hands, but results so far suggest we’re going to measure up okay against our competitors. The opening day win over Bedford was pleasing enough as the pack confidently picked up from where it left off last season (honourable mention here too for captain fantastic Brent Wilson), and young fly half Will Maisey put in a flawless kicking performance in a largely comfortable 19-10 win. The 100% record even made it to the second week as another assured performance from Maisey and a try from the returning Campese Ma’afu, as well as scores from Michael Holford, Ryan Hough and new man Iongi, gave the Green and Whites a 24-17 away win in Plymouth.
But old wounds were exposed when Jersey came to Meadow Lane and handed out an embarrassing 39-12 defeat that was riddled with handling errors, missed tackles and the kind of rudderless play that makes you question why you bother with all of this when there’s so many other enjoyable things you could be doing with your weekend. The Worcester defeat was to be expected, but we then kept up our schizophrenic, rugby rollercoaster of an identity with a cracking second half win over Leeds (sorry, Yorkshire) Carnegie.
Action from Jersey
All in all I just can’t shake that second paragraph belief that it’s not going to be a particularly enjoyable season. The playoffs will almost certainly prove to be beyond us, but we shouldn’t come close to the kind of relegation scrap that soured the end of last season, leaving just midtable obscurity, the inevitable hiding in the British and Irish Cup, and more unanswered questions over our long term future.
The third issue, then, is perhaps the biggest on the table this season. Action off the field is likely to be as important as the eighty minutes of rugby that take place on it each week. Conversely, though, it is action on the field that needs to improve to get fans back through the turnstyles. But then…
Ah, to hell with it, let’s have another and just enjoy the game, yeah?
Nottingham Rugby FC website
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