Huge Nomads Effort Comes Up Just Short
Nomads faced Ledbury for the first time in several years on a great afternoon for rugby at Fromehall.
1 Lee Morrice2 Grant Nash3 Damien Cox4 Nick Stringer5 Andy Hardiman 6 James Nash 7 Tom Flanagan8 Mark Samak9 Callum Gibbs 10 Chris Toon 11 Dom Stephenson 12 Jamie Leworthy 13 Tom Taylor 14 Alex Nash 15 Ben Wilkes 16 Chris Jones 17 Adam Clark
Ledbury dominated possession the early phases with the large pack carrying well close to the ruck and off their fly-half. Stroud defence was solid with Flanagan as ever chopping low and being ably supported by Samak and Hardiman. Toon, Leworthy and Taylor, likewise tackled resolutely in the midfield and stopped any significant gains. Indeed, Ledbury’s first real incursion into Stroud territory was courtesy as a misplaced pass in attack, which was pounced upon by their centre, who made 50m before being bravely brought down by Stephenson. Ledbury were able to recycle and spread the ball wider where Nomads were penalised for a high tackle. A quick tap penalty a smart interchange of passes allowed their Back Row forward to crash over out wide. Try Converted. 0-7.
Pressure at the restart from Stringer caused disruption. As Ledbury scrambled the ball away they were met by another crunching tackle from Flanagan, which forced a knock on. The scrum was solid and allowed Gibbs and Toon to find Taylor running a strong line out wide. Good recycling brought the ball back to Leworthy, who used the trademark family handoff to great effect to make ground. Grant Nash and Samak continued the momentum with pick and goes before Gibbs and Toon combined to find Wilkes hitting a great out to in line, which took him past two tacklers before he skilfully offloaded to Leworthy to surge over. Flanagan kicked the conversion. 7-7.
Ledbury regained the lead when they were able to capitalise on Nomads indiscipline, kicking into the 22 and then running thorough multiples phases before their centre was able to squeeze over by the post. Try Converted. 7-14.
Jones replaced Morrice and was soon in the action with a powerful hit that forced a knock on. From the scrum – a pick from Samak and a feed to Gibbs allowed the scrum-half to once again find Wilkes in the wider channels. This time he kicked ahead and a fortunate ricochet allowed him to regather before a great pass found the supporting Leworthy, who cruised in under the posts. Flanagan converted. 14-14.
James Nash eventually secured ball from the kick-off and Gibbs immediately looked to spread play wide. Excellent hands from Toon freed Taylor for a powerful surge up the middle. Gibbs fed Samak, who carried on the momentum up the left. Good recycling provided good ball for Gibbs to switch play back to the right. Toon showed great vision and surged into space with a tremendous show and go before exhibiting a turn of pace to outrun the covering defence for 50m to crash through to score in the corner. 19-14.
Half Time Stroud 19Ledbury 14
The first 15 minutes of the second half were costly for the Nomads with Wilkes being forced from the field. Stephenson dropped to Full Back with Flanagan moving to the wing and Clark replacing him on the flank. Some excellent offloading from Ledbury coupled with some uncharacteristic weak tackling from Nomads resulted in two quick scores that were both converted. 19-28.
Despite these setbacks, Nomads were far from out of the game and lifted their game. Stephenson ran kicks back strongly whilst Jones, Samak and Grant Nash always looked to carry. Leworthy and Taylor continued to run strongly in the centres and from one carry, recycled ball allowed Gibbs to free Toon on the left. Kicking ahead, he chased his own kick, hacked ahead and continued to press – Flanagan showed terrific pace to out run the covering defence and nudge the ball over the line and touchdown to score in the corner. A superb touchline conversion from Flanagan narrowed the gap to two points. 26-28.
With the Ledbury kick not going 10m, Nomads continued to attack with Grant Nash and Taylor carrying strongly as Nomads looked to push into the Ledbury 22. Gibbs and Toon freed Leworthy, who took play into the 22 but unfortunately, Nomads were penalised at the breakdown allowing Ledbury to tap and kick to touch to end the game.
Full TimeStroud Nomads 26Ledbury 2nd XV 28
This was an excellent game played in Great Spirit from both sides. Nomads should be proud of their performance and despite the result again proved that they can compete well in this League.
Next Fixture: (Away) v Cheltenham North, Saturday 26 October KO 1500.Game highlights
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