Nottingham Outlaws 52 Warrington Wizards 22

AN under-strength Wizards side suffered their second defeat on the spin when league newcomers Nottingham Outlaws deservedly took the spoils on Saturday.

Wizards had the perfect start when they opened the scoring in the second minute, winger Adam Gorman taking the pass from Mark Roughneen to score, Warren Ayres adding the conversion.

Nottingham replied six minutes later when Paul Calland raced 70 metres to score in the left corner before prop forward Simon Perry powered over to give Outlaws a lead they would not relinquish.

Three minutes later Nottingham stretched their advantage when Calland ran the ball on the last tackle and put Perry over for a try that Calland converted.

But Wizards hit back when the ball was swept out wide and centre Darren Forshaw combined with Roughneen to put winger Troy Alison over wide on the right.

That was a brief interlude in the hosts’ dominance and Rob Brown scored before Myles Rutherford crossed twice, Calland converting the first of the three.

Nottingham scored again five minutes into the second half through Phil Lucas, although Warrington gave themselves hope when Kilshaw’s inside ball put Forshaw over.

Ayres added the conversion.

Outlaws soon hit back when a Wizards handling error on their own line was seized upon by Simon Morton. Calland added the extras to give his side a 38-16 lead.

Wizards scored a consolation try just after the hour when Kilshaw pretended to take the ball from acting half back on the last tackle, instead leaving it for Reddecliff to pick up and score.

But again Nottingham came straight back and tries for Brown, Ben Radford and Tom Tsang completed a deserved victory.

Best for the Wizards were loose forward Alan Reddecliff, winger Adam Gorman, prop forward Matt Clarke and hooker Craig Cornelia.

Wizards: Mark Roughneen, Troy Alison, Stuart Pirrie, Darren Forshaw, Adam Gorman, Alan Kilshaw, Warren Ayres, Matt Clarke, Craig Cornelia, Andy Forber, Graham Healey, Lee Rushton, Alan Reddecliff.

Subs: Hayden James, Nick Settle, Nick Woodward, Gareth Barron.