The inaugural Matt Gallagher Cup was an 11 try thriller at the Butts Park Arena. It hasn’t been a particularly happy hunting ground in the league for Nottingham of late but they ran their hosts close, threatening to stage a late comeback but ultimately ending up on the wrong side of a 41-36 scoreline.
The first period was a very even contest for the most part. Morgan Adderly-Jones opened the scoring for the home side after nine minutes when he was released on the left with his side playing with the advantage after a scrum on the Nottingham 22. Josh Thomas couldn’t convert.
Less than 10 minutes later, lock Osian Thomas put in a deft grubber down the line for the Archers that Josh Goodwin helped on its way then touched down with the dead ball line looming. Gwyn Parks converted to put the visitors into the lead.
The scrum half was delighted to help the team on his second start this season: “The ball got moved to the edge pretty well, Osian put it through, luckily I got a little kick on it and it bounced nicely for me to finish. It’s good to get on the scoresheet.”
The momentum swung the way of the hosts, however, as the half wore on. A try-saving tackle on Wilf McCarthy in the corner, after a marauding run by George Timmins, was the catalyst for Coventry as they scored three tries in quick succession.
First, Peter Sullivan capitalised after a bit of ping-pong when the ball squirted loose out of the back of a Nottingham ruck. Then, with the Archers giving away an increasing number of penalties, David Opoku-Fordjour went over, followed soon after by former Nottingham man Dafydd-Rhys Tiueti. Thomas converted two of the three to give Coventry a somewhat flattering 24-7 lead at the interval.
Goodwin gave an insight into the conversations at half-time: “We, as a back unit, felt there were lots of opportunities. If we could be accurate then there were tries out there for us and we probably left a few out there in the first half. We had to look after the ball a bit better to get those opportunities.”
However, it didn’t get much better for Nottingham after the restart as Alex Rae’s men were once again established within five metres of the Nottingham goal line with Alan Ferrie finally forcing his way over the whitewash.
But it was then the Archers’ turn to give Cov a dose of their own medicine as Michael Green piled over from close range and Timmins did likewise shortly afterwards. Parks was on target after both tries to bring Nottingham within 10 points of their opponents.
The game was becoming a real ding-dong battle as, around the hour mark, Senitiki Nayalo struck again for Coventry before Dan Richardson hit back for Nottingham, securing the try bonus point, with Opoku-Fordjour getting sent to the sin bin in the process.
The visitors used the extra man to their advantage as they made it a one score game with Tom Manz going over.
Nottingham had been on the wrong end of a few comebacks of late and were hoping to execute one of their own, especially as Coventry’s resources were reduced further when Adderly-Jones saw yellow.
It wasn’t to be, however, as the Archers made a hash of receiving the kick-off, not for the first time in the match, ultimately leading to Jay Ecclesfield giving away a penalty that saw him sent to the bin just as Opoku-Fordjour returned to the field, levelling up the playing numbers.
The boot of replacement back Tommy Mathews put Coventry eight points ahead with just over five minutes remaining.
Nottingham threw everything at the home side to try and gain at least a losing bonus point that was finally secured by Gwyn Parks, at the third time of asking, after Coventry kept infringing just inside their own half.