Carnegie Challenge Cup 2nd Round – Sunday 14th February

After many close calls RNRL finally achieved a place in the third round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup at the expense of National Conference side Nottingham Outlaws. Despite the date and final score this was by no means a massacre; the visitors provided stiff opposition for most of the first half and indeed took the lead after 5 minutes. The Outlaws were probably quicker off the mark in the early exchanges and with the RN conceding back to back penalties they had a good attacking platform in the home sides half. Neat hands down the right allowed Oliver Crick to nip inside the cover and cross under the posts making skipper Paul Calland's conversion a formality. The next few minutes saw both sides have opportunities to score but it was the RN who struck to post their first points of the day, on the last tackle Mark Robinson playing in his favoured role in the second row took the ball at pace and crashed over to the right of the posts, Kev Botwood nailing his first conversion and it was all square again. Robinson had a hand in the RN second try, taking the ball from Botwood he broke the cover before an inside pass put Lewis Taylor away towards the posts, a neat step by the prop got him round the full back and under the posts, a straight forward conversion and the home side were ahead for the first time in the match. As the match approached half time the Outlaws got the feed at the scrum on their 20 metre line but after only two tackles Lewis Taylor deftly stole the ball and ensuring it went backwards secured for the RN. A fantastic move gave Jamie Goss another chance to run at the defence, he found Gareth Cadmore with a superb flick inside and Cadmore in turn lofted the ball out to winger Aaron Hanson who beat the cover to drop over wide on the Navy Left. Kev Botwood then converted brilliantly from the touchline and that was it for the first half. That score was probably the killer one of the match, at 12-6 the Outlaws were still very much in the match but to give up 6 more points on the stroke of half time was very hard to take. A very entertaining half with RNRL becoming more and more dominant towards the break.

Despite plenty of possession and territory it was 15minutes into the half before the RNRL next score, after a few close calls hooker Johnny Platt did his usual and burrowed over to the left of the posts, again Botwood landed the conversion, 24:6. Almost immediately the RN were on the attack again, after a few seconds of claims from both sides for a knock on decision Aaron Hansen gathered up the ball to sprint 30 metres to the line however after much deliberation Ref Jonathon Roberts disallowed the score. This was only a brief respite for the now beleaguered Outlaws, on 68 minutes Kev Botwood linked with Lewis Taylor who raced across the defensive line drawing the covet to him before feeding Tim Vonderavalu who finished in some style, again Botwood made the conversion look easy from the touchline. The first set from the kick off produced another try for RNRL this time Ben Taylor on as a replacement fought his way through midfield traffic moving the ball out wide to Nick Bell who crossed for his maiden first team try. Amazingly Botwood missed the conversion the ball hitting the uprights. By now and after 70 minutes or so the game was won but there was still more scores to come. Jamie Goss had played a major part in keeping the Outlaws pack quiet throughout however this time he was on the attack Adam McCrohan had joined the attack and as he made for the line he released a great pass out to Goss who was unstoppable from 20 metres taking a couple of defenders with him, this time Botwood was successful with the conversion, 38-6. The final score of the match went to Botwood who finished off yet another flowing Brothers move, once again Lewis Taylor took the ball on through midfield passing it on to Manasa Tamoi who made good yards before finding the stand off who in turn stepped the last defenders to touchdown under the posts, needless to say he slotted over his seventh conversion of the match to round of a magnificent team performance.

So after going from behind early on a relatively inexperienced side put this early setback behind them and went on to claim a place in the third round with a comprehensive victory over a very useful Outlaws side.

RNRL:- Adam McCrohan, John Humphries, Tim Vonderavalu, Lee Jones, Aaron Hanson, Kev Botwood, Wayne John, Jamie Goss, Johnny Platt, Lewis Taylor, Gareth Cadmore, Mark Robinson, Danny Johnson (C)

Replacements: Nick Bell, Robo Nakadavu, Ben Taylor, Manasa Tamoi

Scorers:- T Robinson, Taylor, Hanson, Platt, Vonderavalu, Bell, Goss, Botwood
G Botwood (7) (All Conv)