But a handful of games across the county survived the inclement weather conditions in the rugby this past weekend, Championship high-fliers, Nottingham, jumping up to second, for 24 hours at least, with another, twelve point come-from-behind success. Hosting divisional newcomers, Cambridge, under Lady Bay’s ‘Friday Night Lights,’ Craig Hammond’s side found themselves twelve down inside…
A narrow defeat under the Friday Night Lights, at Lady Bay, saw Craig Hammond’s Archers slip to fifth in the early throes of this seasons’ Championship, losing 38-26 to leaders, Ealing Trailfinders. Having won their opening two contests of the season, hopes were high for the season for Nottingham RFC, however, consecutive losses have quelled…
Newark Ladies played their first game since 2010 at the weekend as they returned to rugby union existence all be it in close defeat to Belper, a cracking match ending 19-22 in the away sides favour. Mark Dobb stating “On a perfect day for rugby, Kelham Road was treated to a fine display of women’s…
It was defeat at the third time of asking in this seasons’ RFU Championship as Craig Hammond’s Nottingham side fell to a 30-19 loss away to Doncaster Knights on Saturday afternoon. Having won their opening two games, including at Lady Bay the previous week, expectations were for another success for the Archers, and it looked…
Craig Hammond’s Nottingham Rugby made it two-wins-from-two to start the new Championship season, winning 41-28 in the first game at Lady Bay, against visiting Ampthill. Having played five games in the new-look Premiership Cup prior to the league season beginning, the Archers have certainly hit the ground running, racking up up points and tries galore…
Saturday night sees the All Blacks and the Springboks collide for Rugby’s grandest prize, the Webb Ellis Cup. In recent interviews with both the Head Coach Craig Hammond, and captain Nathan Tweedy, of Nottingham Rugby, both New Zealanders, the Nottingham Sport gained a couple of quick thoughts from the them about the tournament, and the…
Having battled through a tough, Premiership Cup campaign, where the Archers faced that of Gloucester, Hartpury University, Saracens, Coventry, and Harlequins, throughout September and early October, a much welcome return to league action was played out this past weekend. In the opening game of the 2023-24 Championship season, Nottingham faced a 240+ mile, four-and-a-half hour…
England are set to face South Africa in the Rugby World Cup semi-final this Saturday night, at the Stade de France, in Saint Denis – the victor will face either Argentina or New Zealand in Sunday’s grand final. Among those in the Red Roses are two with connections to Nottingham, George Martin, and Ollie Chessum,…
Ahead of the weekend’s matches across the grassroots rugby scene in Nottinghamshire, we take a look back at the opening weeks of the regional campaigns, clubs having already up half a dozen matches apiece since kicking off in early September. Keyworth RFC, down in Counties 3 Midlands East (Central), which houses half-a-down of the county’s…
Twenty years have pretty much elapsed since a very last-gasp drop goal gave England victory, 20-17, in the Rugby World Cup final, breaking the hearts of host nation, Australia. Former fly-half Jonny Wilkinson was the hero that day, and that game, alongside numerous others, are featured in a new book by Nottingham-based sports author, James…
As starts to a season go, irrespective of sport, consecutive derbies, for both your first, and second team, is some going, but that’s how Mellish RFC will begin their, respective campaigns, come early-September. First up is that of Paviors, with the firsts, in the Regional 2 Midlands, making the short trip on 2 September, and…
Physical performance, alongside the use of the mind, is perhaps the greatest asset, tool, in which any athlete has at their disposal. Primarily achieved through the combination of, among other things, strength training, and aerobic conditioning, people like Jack Westley, the Strength & Conditioning (S&C) Coach at Nottingham Rugby Club, has had those areas as…
Last season was a tough one to swallow for those connected to West Bridgford, suffering relegation hurts at the best of times but, with what they went through during the season, made it just that little bit harder. A tough, Regional 1 North-East, both in opposition, and travel, saw the Nottinghamshire-based outfit lose their first…
The league season may not be kicking off until 2 September, but, with comings-and-goings already occurring, pre-season friendlies pretty much now lined up, and the league constitution now in place, rugby’s Regional 2 North Midlands division will see the presence of four, Nottinghamshire clubs. Newark, who finished sixth last time around, themselves joined in the…
At Lady Bay, and following on from a successful, end-of-season awards night, Head Coach Craig Hammond, has been sorting out the numbers ahead of the new campaign, and announcing a handful of new signings along the way. Having been narrowly edged in the last game of what was, on-field, a tough season for the Archers,…
Since the league season wrapped up in the rugby, in late April, there’s been some Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire (NLD) Cup, and Papa Johns Community Cup, action for two of the county’s sides, Paviors, and West Bridgford. Double success came by the way of Paviors RFC in the NLD (Notts, Lincs and Derbyshire) competitions, their…
The recent announcement in the rugby world, in that next season (2023/24) Premiership Cup will also include, for the first time, Championship clubs, has been a one that excites Nottingham boss, Craig Hammond. Having led the Archers to a ninth place finish this past season (2022/23), Hammond’s side winning just seven of the twenty-two matches,…
A big win under the ‘Friday Night Lights’ provided some much needed tonic for Craig Hammond’s Nottingham, putting visitors Ampthill to sword, 39-0, in the Greene King IPA Championship. They didn’t have it all their own way though, despite the score-line, the Lady Bay faithful seeing the visitors, now just four points above the Archers…
There was a big win for the Archers on Sunday afternoon, Craig Hammond’s RFU Championship side picking up just their sixth win of what has been a tough campaign. Hosting fourth place Bedford Blues, at Lady Bay, Nottingham pulled out all the stops to go and claim a 26-24 success, and, in doing so, registered…
The Archers are preparing to host ‘100 Games at Lady Bay’ this coming weekend, when they welcome RFU Championship leaders, Ealing Trailfinders. It’ll be the one hundredth game in which Lady Bay has hosted at the ground, since they moved there from Meadow Lane at the beginning of 2015, and current Head Coach, a former…
