Nottingham Casuals 24 Moderns 25

Nottinghamshire RFU Senior Cup ¼ final
20th March 2010

Nottingham Casuals 24 Moderns 25

Casuals came oh so close to doing the double over Moderns in this encounter, but Moderns scraped a win, after holding a comfortable lead.
The tenacity and spirit shown by the Casuals players was immense.which they can justifiably be proud of. Due to a host of unavalaibilities, several players were brought up from the 2nds, and they covered themselves in glory,and did the club proud, despite not winning.
Moderns opened their account early with an unconverted try. Shortly after, a Casuals kick was charged down, and Moderns posted a converted try, looking as if they might run away wih the tie.
But Casuals had different ideas, and when Moderns were penalised, scrum half Paul Greensmith showed quick thinking as he tapped the ball and shot through the Moderns defences to score.
Moderns responded with a drop goal to restore the points cushion.
Casuals then got back into the game on 30 minutes, Joe Barton blasting his way through, scattering the defence in his run to the try line, Brodie Howatson adding the conversion..
Unfortunately Moderns added a converted try just before half time when their stand off cut through almost untouched.
The 2nd half saw a re-invigorated Casuals team as they hauled themselves back into the game.
A period of interplay eventually led to Brodie Howatson skinning Moderns defences on the outside to dive in at the corner.
Joe Barton then galloped in for his second try, and Howatson’s conversion edged Casuals into the lead by just 2 points.
Much to Casuals’ dismay, Moderns slotted a drop goal, to regain the lead.
A switch of pitches due to serious injury,slowed Casuals’ revival and they were unable to get another score, falling just short, but still happy with their efforts

Josh Tilford was named man of the match, but there were a few others who were not far behind.