Heroic Nottingham Defence Shuts Out London Scottish

An impressive defensive display from Nottingham earned them a valuable win as they overcame third-placed London Scottish at rain-soaked Meadow Lane.

Conditions dictated that it would be far from pretty, but the Green and Whites played sensible rugby.

They dominated the first half and built up a 12-point lead by the break, thanks to five penalties form Matt Jarvis, Dan Newton replying for the visitors.

They had to defend for long periods of the second half as Scottish set about getting back into the game, but stuck to that defensive task with great resolution to frustrate their opponents.

Scottish simply could not find any space as Nottingham hassled them and closed them down at every opportunity.

Against one of the better packs in the Championship they can be pleased with their set piece, but it was their stubborn refusal to give the visitors any space that brought the much-needed points.

A penalty from Jarvis gave Nottingham the lead in only the third minute.

They soon added to that as they stole a loose ball on halfway and stormed into the London Scottish 22 to force a second penalty for Jarvis to make it 6-nil.

Stealing another loose ball brought them a third penalty and Jarvis was on target again to make it 9-nil in the 15th minute.

They were dominating possession and putting the visitors under pressure, soon forcing a fourth penalty, only for Jarvis's kick to drift wide in the wind.

London Scottish kicked back upfield and set up an attack which brought them a penalty, Dan Newton getting their first points on the board.

Within three minutes though Jarvis cancelled out that score with his fourth successful kick of the evening.

Their best attack of the half took them deep into the visitors' 22, but they lost possession and Scottish were able to clear to touch.

But they were penalised at the resulting lineout and Jarvis slotted over the kick to make it 15-3 at half time.

Surprisingly there was addition to that score in a second half that saw Scottish come increasingly into the game.

By midway through the second half the visitors were enjoying a similar level of domination that the Green and Whites had done in the first.

For all their efforts though they only got close to the home line on a couple of occasions as Nottingham frustrated them.

Their best attack saw them drive at the Nottingham line with phase after phase, but the home defence kept them out.

They forced a scrum under the Nottingham posts as the game moved into injury time, but it was the Green and Whites who came away with the ball to clear their lines.