It was the best start to the league season Nottingham could have hoped for, coming away with the victory and a try bonus point in a pulsating 12-try contest up in the north west against Caldy.
Caldy were the ones who opened the scoring, in the seventh minute Rhys Hayes did well to get past a few tacklers and set up Will Robinson for the try.
However, Nottingham responded well, kicking a penalty to the corner in the 16th minute and getting over the try line a few phases after the lineout through Marcus Ramage.
The visitors took the lead with the conversion, and then built on it soon after with tries from Michael Stronge, Harry Graham and another from Ramage.
With Nottingham holding a 24-5 lead over their opponents going into the break, it looked to be game over, but the Caldy rally in the second half was superb.
JJ Dickinson inched over after a number of re-set scrums, and from the re-start they were back in the attacking third again. Michael Barlow’s incisive break was backed up by Lewis Barker and the playmaker calmly ran the ball in to reduce the lead to just seven.
A Morgan Bunting penalty provided temporary relief as Caldy continued to ask all the questions, and they opened up the Archers out wide and Robinson got in with his second try of the afternoon to bring the difference to just three.
Stronge’s second gave Nottingham a much-needed buffer, and the pivotal moment came nine minutes from time. With Caldy pressing, Joe Woodward picked off a wide pass to race home from 40 metres.
Although Woodward’s try pretty much sealed the win for the Archers, Caldy still kept pushing and Matt Gallagher drove over the line with a minute to go.
George Cox put the cherry on the cake for Nottingham though, picking off a pass and getting over the line with the clock in the red.
The Green and Whites will hope to continue their winning ways next weekend when they welcome Ampthill to the Bay on Saturday.