Led by Jon Mills, the Dragons kicked off their Championship season with a side containing six of the summer’s new arrivals and two more on the bench.

The new look Welsh side kicked off with a very strong gusting wind and it wasn’t long before they registered their first try of the season.  In the first minute Welsh forced Nottingham to carry over their own goal line.  A free kick to LW from the resulting scrum for early engagement was taken quickly by Fisher and passed through backs’ hands for Gibson to score in the corner with his first touch of the ball. In the tricky conditions Ross was unable to convert from wide out.

In the third minute offside by Hills in front of his kicker gave Nottingham new boy Arlidge a chance he didn’t miss from 40 metres out.  Another Arlidge penalty after 12 minutes following offside at a maul by Runciman put Nottingham 6-5 ahead.

Welsh pressed hard and ran the ball well but without reward.  During one insurgence into Nottingham territory in the 20^th minute the ball was intercepted by Nottingham centre Forsyth who streaked away from half-way towards the Welsh goal line only to be penalised for offside.  Ross kicked the penalty to touch midway between Nottingham’s 22 and goal line.

From the resultant line out Welsh drove deep into the heart of the Notts defence in midfield 10 metres out, the ball finishing in the hands of Josh Drauniniu who broke the cover tackle to score in the left hand corner. Ross kicking superbly in the conditions but his conversion attempt hitting the upright and bouncing wide. 6-10

Nottingham scrum half Usasz after 23 mins broke to the Welsh 22, Hills was penalised for not releasing the player after the tackle and from 22 metres out in front Arlidge slotted the ball home to make the score 9-10 to Welsh.

From the kick off another penalty, this time against Nottingham who were penalised for not rolling away 5 metres out and Ross gained his first success with the boot to bring the score to 9-13

In a see-saw affair of penalties, Welsh again transgressed straight from the kick off and were penalised for going in at the side of a maul and Arlidge brought score to 12-13

Sustained pressure from Nottingham in 30^th minute caught the Welsh midfield offside.  Arlidge kicked his fifth penalty to put Nottingham back in lead at 15-13

In the 34^th minute Welsh took a ball against the head but unfortunately knocked on short of the line.  From the resulting scrum, Nottingham got caught in possession in-goal and the subsequent 5 metre scrum was passed wide but again our handling just let us down as it looked like we would score our 3^rd try.  Another scrum followed and a free kick against Welsh for early engagement enabling Nottingham to clear their lines. 

Welsh attacked from the line out and Drauniniu just passed forward in the tackle as again that 3^rd try went begging from 10 metres out with the cover defence beaten.

Thanks to some good kicking from the boot of Arlidge and some Welsh indiscretions Nottingham were in truth fortunate to be in the lead at half time with the score at 15-13 in their favour.  Welsh had created many more chances but had just not been able to finish them and had given away too many kickable penalties.  In all Welsh missed three very good try opportunities in the first half.

The second half kicked off and it wasn’t long before Welsh were penalised again, this time for going into the side of a ruck, and from 40 metres Arlidge’s kick crept inside the post to make it 18-13 to Nottingham.

The longer the game went on, the more Nottingham gained in confidence starting to spin the ball wide, but the Welsh defence held firm. 

After 15 minutes of the second half Shawn Pittman made a storming 35 metre run down the right hand touch line and was just bundled into touch outside the 22.

Midway through the second half with Welsh’s first real move of the half, another chance went begging as a pass went forward 5 metres out from the Nottingham goal line.

69 minutes gone and following more pressure, Welsh almost made it to the goal line only to be adjudged to have held the ball up short and the resulting scrum awarded to Nottingham.  The Welsh pack piled on the pressure forcing Nottingham to touch down in in-goal.  Nottingham were then twice penalised at resulting scrums. Welsh now having the ascendancy picked up from the next scrum and spun the ball, Ross making the break, passing inside to Simon Whatling who dived under the posts, Ross converting and taking the score in Welsh’s favour to 20-18.

Welsh were penalised on 70 minutes in front of the posts and Arlidge slotted his seventh penalty of the day. 21-20 to Nottingham.

In the 74^th minute and with advantage being played to Welsh for a collapsed driving maul, Welsh spun the ball again and a great miss pass from Ross found Josh Drauniniu who stretched to score a bonus point try in the corner and Ross stretched the lead with a tremendous kick from the touchline making it 27-21 to Welsh.

Welsh then defended determinedly for the final 5 minutes or so as Nottingham pressed hard from everywhere, but were held out, with Welsh holding on for the win.

New coaching team of Head Coach Phil Greening and assistant Mike Friday have worked hard with the players during the summer to create the right environment for success and above all an ethic of working for each other. This was clearly evident from the resolute defence displayed during the game as Welsh kept their tryline intact.

Speaking after the match Greening said:

“It is good to get a win, particularly with a bonus point, but there is a lot we have to work on and it is disappointing to see six chances go begging.  We gave away far too many penalties and some of our decision making was not as good as it should have been. Thankfully our defence was solid and with better decisions we would have scored more tries. However, take nothing away from Nottingham, they were very physical and will be a threat to many teams this season. From our perspective there is a lot to build on and whilst we are happy with the points we need to be more clinical in attack and more disciplined in both attack and defence as attention to detail is everything. We will take all the positives out of this and put in the work before travelling to Cornwall next weekend.  I would just like to thank the travelling support for making the effort as it is great to have them there behind us.”

London Welsh

1.Michael Holford 2.Vili Ma'asi 3.Shawn Pittman 4.Martin Purdy 5.Matt Corker 6.Jon Mills (Capt) 7.Michael Hills 8.Jonathan Fisher 9.Nick Runciman 10.Gordon Ross 11.Josh Drauniniu 12.Simon Whatling 13.Hudson Tonga’uiha 14.Liam Gibson 15Errie Claassens

Replacements 16.Saul Nelson 17.Lorne Ward Ben Russell 19.Mike Powell 20.Rob Lewis 21.Paul Sampson 22.Aled Thomas 

Scorers:

Tries: Gibson, Drauniniu (2), Whatling. 

Cons: Ross (2). 

Pen: Ross

Nottingham

1.Fowkes 2.Youngs 3.Prescott 4.Kench 5.Raven 6.Hammond 7.Armes 8.Shaw 9.Usasz 10.Arlidge 11.Jackson 12.Forsyth 13.Cobden 14.Savage 15. Sempere

Replacements: 16.Barnham 17.Barnard 18.Marshall 19.Baird 20.Conquest 21.French 22.Farrell

Scorers:

Pens: Arlidge (7)

Attendance:1,022

Match Officials:

Referee:                        Rob Debney

Assistant Referees:       Darren Gamage

                                    Barry Dalby