23/4/2008

Sport

Rugby - Esher end points drought

Esher                             7      
Nottingham                 31

ESHER'S final game at Molesey Road in their first season in National One was a vast improvement on the previous home defeat by Launceston.

Starting brightly, Esher pressurised the Nottingham try line in the opening 10 minutes, but were unable to find the final push that would have put points on the board.

Esher’s recent point's drought looked set to continue as Neil Hallett missed a straightforward penalty kick, but the home side competed on equal terms with their highflying opponents for the first quarter of the match, with Matteo Barbini looking sharp in his first home start at outside centre.

However, basic errors began creeping into Esher’s play and some and some ill judged defending allowed Nottingham Archers to run in three tries in  16 minutes to claim a 19-point lead by half time.

The visitors killed off any chance of an Esher win with two more tries at the start of the second half to lead 31-0.

With victory out of reach, all Esher had to play for was an end to their points drought, which they achieved, albeit with just three mintues of play remaining.
Collecting the ball on half way, Mark Butterworth darted through a gap in the Nottingham defence to bring play deep into the visitors half.

Esher retained possession from the break down and played the ball first left and then right where top try scorer Dougie Flockhart was on hand to go over in the corner.

Hallett made no mistake with the conversion to make the score 31-7.

Saturday’s clash at Moseley will be a midtable battle to decide who finishes 11th in the National One table.

First printed in: News & Mail Series