Last Wednesday was the final league game of the season for the 1st XV as they travelled to Leicester to take on the University of Nottingham, while it was a battle for 3rd place and a more favourable draw in the cup.

In blustery conditions which made the game extremely difficult UoB quickly found themselves training as what looked like a great first defensive set turned into a nightmare as Nottingham went the length to open the scoring and make it 5-0. It took some time for UoB to find their feet but a superb bit of play from fullback Ali Gunn with a little chip over the top and the gather, and then the intelligence to find the oncoming scrum-half Will Hardwick who scored with fly-half Dan Duke adding the extras to put UoB in the lead. Gunn was at the forefront of the action once again as he went the length of a turnover after Nottingham had failed to score despite their dominant pressure in the UoB 22, Duke once again converted to make the scores 14-5. Duke then added a penalty shortly before half-time to give UoB a 17-5 half-time lead.

The second half though was extremely difficult for UoB playing into the wind which made exiting their half almost impossible. Nottingham took advantage of the conditions and struck early to narrow the score to 17-12. UoB did respond with possibly their only trip to the oppositions 22 of the half, with flanker Aiden Ali powerfully crashing over the line to make the score 22-12. UoB then didn't see much of the ball and were seemingly doing very well to keep hold of a 10 point lead. But a defence splitting pass from Nottingham's 10 had UoB scrambling and eventually conceding under the posts which made the score 22-19 with 10 minutes to go. Nottingham then found the winner with a powerful forward orientated move and UoB unfortunately had no answer and went down 24-22.

Thus UoB end the league season with a record breaking 9 wins from 14 and an almost perfect home record barring the defeat to Nottingham Trent University. Currently sitting 3rd their final position will be determined once the remaining fixtures in the league have concluded.

University of Birmingham RFC

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