Post by Jamie Crawford on Mar 24, 2015 10:51:48 GMT
With four games to play, tenth-placed Knights are six points above eleventh-placed Moseley and eleven points above twelfth-placed Plymouth Albion. Looking up, Bedford Blues are only one point above in ninth and Jersey are six points above in eighth. All three teams have won six games but Jersey have drawn two to the Knights’ one plus have nine bonus points. The Blues have won eight bonus points and the Knights just five.
The Knights are tenth after six wins, one draw and eleven losses and their opponents, Nottingham are fourth after winning ten and losing eight. On their respective journeys Nottingham have amassed 368 points and conceded 482; the Knights have scored 335 points whilst conceding 392 points. This makes the Knights’ points difference 56 points better but as we know, it’s when you score and concede the points that matters. The Knights have had more than their fair share of close defeats this season. Just scoring a few points more or conceding a handful of points less would have led to a win and four league points compared to none or one losing bonus point. We have scored the equal-third highest number of losing bonus points and only Albion and us have scored a try bonus point.
Unfortunately the normal fortresses of Billesley Common and Castle Park have been penetrated this season and Moseley and the Knights find themselves bottom of the home league table. Better news is that Nottingham’s performance on the road hasn’t been as good as at home. They are fortunate to have played two more home games than away games as they’ve won 60% of their home games but 50% of their away games.
Our own Dougie Flockhart still tops the Championship top point’s scorer’s table with Nottingham’s Fly Half Dan Mugford in twelfth place. However Nottingham’s Kiwi Flanker Brent Wilson and Fly Half Will Maisey also appear in the top twenty. Wilson is also the Championship’s joint-second top try scorer this season and one of nine Championship players to have scored a hat trick.
Nottingham have scored 43 tries to the Knights’ 29; their try scoring has been fairly evenly spread throughout the game with slightly more (56%) being scored throughout the first half.
Unsurprisingly given Wilson’s propensity in putting the ball down over the try line, Nottingham’s Back Row have been their leading try-scoring position with over 37% of their tries scored being scored by the Back Row. Three quarters of these have been scored by Wilson, so he is not alone in seizing a try-scoring opportunity. Unusually the Front Row have scored Nottingham’s next highest number of tries by position. Over 58% of all of Nottingham’s tries have been scored by forwards. The Knights’ Pack need to exert their home dominance and be wary of Flankers peeling off rucks, mauls and scrums.
Nottingham have conceded more tries down the wings than any other team in the Championship, so Tyson Lewis and Dougie should look to exploit this. Similarly centres have scored the third highest number of tries against Nottingham, with only Albion & Moseley conceding more by Centres. Only Worcester Warriors, the Knights and Nottingham have not conceded any by the Second Row. So Knight Forwards need to be strong and the Backs should look to score tries. Back to the basics of the Forwards winning and keeping possession for the Backs to score – simples!
Tries have been conceded fairly evenly throughout the game with just three more tries being conceded in the first half compared to the second. /Nottingham have been strongest after the half-time break, having conceded just 18% as opposed to 25% in the third quarter.
Nottingham have had the worst discipline in the Championship, having received 17 yellow cards over 18 games played. That’s almost playing with 14 players for ten minutes of each game. The Knights are thankfully the equal third least dirty team. Nearly a quarter of Nottingham’s sin bins have been received by ex-Knight Dan Montagu (Monty).
Elsewhere:
Jersey probably fly to Leeds/Bradford Airport to play sixth-placed Yorkshire (Leeds) Carnegie on Sunday
Bedford Blues travel about 125 miles to play top-placed Bristol on Sunday
Moseley welcome fifth-placed Rotherham Titans to Billesley Common on Friday
Plymouth Albion nip over the county border for their local derby against the seventh-placed Cornish Pirates on Sunday.
The Knights are tenth after six wins, one draw and eleven losses and their opponents, Nottingham are fourth after winning ten and losing eight. On their respective journeys Nottingham have amassed 368 points and conceded 482; the Knights have scored 335 points whilst conceding 392 points. This makes the Knights’ points difference 56 points better but as we know, it’s when you score and concede the points that matters. The Knights have had more than their fair share of close defeats this season. Just scoring a few points more or conceding a handful of points less would have led to a win and four league points compared to none or one losing bonus point. We have scored the equal-third highest number of losing bonus points and only Albion and us have scored a try bonus point.
Unfortunately the normal fortresses of Billesley Common and Castle Park have been penetrated this season and Moseley and the Knights find themselves bottom of the home league table. Better news is that Nottingham’s performance on the road hasn’t been as good as at home. They are fortunate to have played two more home games than away games as they’ve won 60% of their home games but 50% of their away games.
Our own Dougie Flockhart still tops the Championship top point’s scorer’s table with Nottingham’s Fly Half Dan Mugford in twelfth place. However Nottingham’s Kiwi Flanker Brent Wilson and Fly Half Will Maisey also appear in the top twenty. Wilson is also the Championship’s joint-second top try scorer this season and one of nine Championship players to have scored a hat trick.
Nottingham have scored 43 tries to the Knights’ 29; their try scoring has been fairly evenly spread throughout the game with slightly more (56%) being scored throughout the first half.
Unsurprisingly given Wilson’s propensity in putting the ball down over the try line, Nottingham’s Back Row have been their leading try-scoring position with over 37% of their tries scored being scored by the Back Row. Three quarters of these have been scored by Wilson, so he is not alone in seizing a try-scoring opportunity. Unusually the Front Row have scored Nottingham’s next highest number of tries by position. Over 58% of all of Nottingham’s tries have been scored by forwards. The Knights’ Pack need to exert their home dominance and be wary of Flankers peeling off rucks, mauls and scrums.
Nottingham have conceded more tries down the wings than any other team in the Championship, so Tyson Lewis and Dougie should look to exploit this. Similarly centres have scored the third highest number of tries against Nottingham, with only Albion & Moseley conceding more by Centres. Only Worcester Warriors, the Knights and Nottingham have not conceded any by the Second Row. So Knight Forwards need to be strong and the Backs should look to score tries. Back to the basics of the Forwards winning and keeping possession for the Backs to score – simples!
Tries have been conceded fairly evenly throughout the game with just three more tries being conceded in the first half compared to the second. /Nottingham have been strongest after the half-time break, having conceded just 18% as opposed to 25% in the third quarter.
Nottingham have had the worst discipline in the Championship, having received 17 yellow cards over 18 games played. That’s almost playing with 14 players for ten minutes of each game. The Knights are thankfully the equal third least dirty team. Nearly a quarter of Nottingham’s sin bins have been received by ex-Knight Dan Montagu (Monty).
Elsewhere:
Jersey probably fly to Leeds/Bradford Airport to play sixth-placed Yorkshire (Leeds) Carnegie on Sunday
Bedford Blues travel about 125 miles to play top-placed Bristol on Sunday
Moseley welcome fifth-placed Rotherham Titans to Billesley Common on Friday
Plymouth Albion nip over the county border for their local derby against the seventh-placed Cornish Pirates on Sunday.
