Nottingham Casuals 55 Sleaford 0

15th Sept 2012
Midlands 2 East North

Nottingham Casuals 55 Sleaford 0

Casuals make up for the disappointment of the previous week.
Casuals totally dominated this game in the latter stages, but Sleaford offered stubborn resistance until the 30th minute, Casuals just not able score.

After that it was almost one way traffic.

Sleaford lost a scrum on their put in, and slick handling, with Ben Hallam coming into the line at pace, gave wing man Steve Naylor plenty of room to sprint in for his first.
Naylor was then involved in the second try when he made good ground, and as the ball was quickly re-cycled, lock Joe Barton was on hand to blast his way in for the second. Higgins kick just wobbled over.

Almost immediately, Casuals got their 3rd , when the Sleaford kick off was turned into an attack, and centre Brody Howatson set off on a mazy run , before finally outsprinting the despairing defence. Higgins again converted.
Sleaford upped their game for the last few minutes of the half, forcing Casuals to defend but fortunately it came to nothing.

Casuals won a lineout and Dave Mellor went through, the ball was quickly shipped out from the ruck, and Naylor again took on the defence before sending Hallam away returning the earlier favour.

And it was Naylor again for the next try as he chased up a kick behind the Sleaford winger from Higgins, latching onto the kind bounce, to battle his way over, touching down one handed as he landed on his back in the last ditch tackle.

At this point, Casuals went down to 14 men, as the shortest of all substitutions (2 minutes) saw coach Shaun Dannheimer sin-binned for some trivial offence.
But that did not stop Casuals momentum, as they challenged for every ball, and tried to gain ground with every touch of the ball.

Sleaford dropped the ball in a passing move, and the ball was quickly hacked forward. Just as it seemed as if might go out of play, Oli Mott showed his hidden football talents, and controlled the ball to hack (chip it deftly) it back infield, Higgins following up managed grab it, and shimmied through the defence for the try.

Casuals very rapidly followed that up with the next, when a kick was fielded by Naylor again, and his jinking run took him through, and from the ruck Joe Barton went over for his second.

Hallam then helped himself to his second. A move was constructed from a maul, and Hallam came up from the back again, this time going round the outside, before speeding away. Higgins got the kick this time.

Casuals could have a penalty try when Howatson was clothes lined running for the line, but the ref gave nothing more than a penalty. Casuals decide to take the scrum, such was their dominance up front, and when the ball went through the phases, Joe Barton was on hand to run laterally to round off the try scoring and get his hat trick Higgins again converted.

It was good to see Casuals being much more constructive in this game, With the return of several players, bolstered by some experienced heads, Phil Aylward just back from his honeymoon, coming in at prop, Mark Hobson streaking about in the centre, and Steve Sarno dictating things at the back of the scrum, the game was much more controlled.The kicking out of hand was not haphazard and wasteful as it had been against Coalville. Much better directed and controlled
The forwards hard work was justly rewarded.