Nottingham were their own worst enemies in the first five minutes with passes not going to hand and a wayward penalty from Gwyn Parks going the wrong side of the corner flag. That error was compounded with a penalty being given away at the ensuing scrum.

Shortly afterwards Scottish put a kick in behind the home defence that dribbled over the try line. Harry Simpson, on his first start for the Archers in place of the injured Evan Mitchell, hesitated to make the ball dead, allowing visiting winger Solodrau Randianirova to dive between his legs to get the five points. Josh Bellamy converted.

The comedy of errors continued moments later when Simpson slipped trying to field another grubber, allowing Robbie McCallum to take the ball over the line for the Exiles second score but Bellamy couldn’t convert this time.

The remainder of the half was devoid of any great incident, save for Nottingham managing to break out some free-flowing rugby on a couple of occasions, but both times they were halted when they knocked-on in the opposing 22, making it Nottingham 0-12 London Scottish at the halfway mark.

It was prop Aniseko Sio’s 150th appearance for the Archers and he has evidently learned the art of diplomacy in his eight and a half years at the club because, when asked if his side were read the riot act by Craig Hammond at half time he claimed that “He just pointed out that we weren’t really at the races”!

Within five minutes of the restart Nottingham finally gave their fans something to cheer as Charlie Davies was set free on the right and he darted into the corner. After a short conference between referee George Selwood and his assistant the Archers’ centre was awarded his first try for the club. Gwyn Parks couldn’t improve the score.

The hosts were back within two points five minutes later. It was Harry Graham’s turn to be released down the right wing this time and his offload allowed Josh Goodwin to dot down for his third try in three starts this season. Parks narrowly missed again from the sideline but would be 100% accurate from there on in.

It was then the maul’s turn to do the damage as Nottingham took the lead for the first time on 56 minutes with Jack Dickinson piling over. Scottish weren’t really posing any threat and ten minutes later it was James Cherry rolling off the back of the pack who put the Archers further ahead.

Parks added an insurance penalty as the game entered its final stages and the comeback was complete.

Sio was rightly proud of having achieved such a landmark number of appearances: “150 is a massive thing for anyone but to do it with one club is a huge achievement. It means a lot, what with the sacrifices especially with the family. I’ve loved it, I’ve played with a lot of great people and been coached by a lot of good coaches. I’m blessed that I’m still playing. I’d like to say I’ve got another nine years left in me but we’ll see how that goes!”