TIM Fourie and the boys are no doubt wishing Sunday's 50-0 defeat away to Nottingham was an April Fool joke; unfortunately it wasn't and the seven try demolition - without reply - has given Tim  plenty of food for thought.

NOTTINGHAM              50

SEDGLEY PARK           0 

National League Division One 

QUITE simply this was perhaps the worst Sedgley performance not only of this season but of all three so far spent in National Division One.

That is taking nothing away from Nottingham; when a team fails to perform too little credit is given to the victors. Well Nottingham quite simply wanted to win, and they did so in style.

Sedgley  conceded three tries in the first half followed by another four in the second, as the rampant ‘Green ‘n’ Whites’ ran amok.

The fact Sedgley appeared to get on the wrong side of referee Terry Hall at the first set-piece within seconds of the kick-off didn’t bode well.

From the resulting penalty Nottingham kicked for distance and the catch-and-drive from the resulting five-metre lineout was turned into an easy touchdown for flanker Luke Sherriff, on loan from Guinness Premierships side, Harlequins.

Two scrums, three pick-and-drives and seven minutes later Sherriff was propelled over for his second try, goaled by Tom Barlow.

Penalties gifted Nottingham further territory and from another lineout catch-and-drive lock Sam Raven claimed his side’s third try again improved by Barlow to make it 19-0 after 16 minutes. A Barlow penalty then extended that lead to 22-0 at the turnaround.

So ineffective was Sedgley’s offensive game that they failed to take advantage when Nottingham were twice reduced to 14 men through yellow cards prior to, and just after half-time.

Four further Nottingham tries in the second half: Raven again bursting onto a well-timed pass; David Jackson using his pace and sidestep to deadly effect; fullback Rohaan Nirmalendran popping up on the outside to take a well weighed and timed Alex Dodge pass; and centre Tim Molenaar winning the race to the corner flag, aided by a third Barlow two-pointer and three from his replacement Neil Stenhouse, completed the rout.

Sedgley had chances, with skipper Jimmy Ponton held up a metre short of the Nottingham line, but more often than not passes were forced when there was no need, or there was a knock-on or possession was kicked away when running the ball was the better option.

Conceding 50 points was bad enough, but conceding that many without reply simply added insult to injury.  

NOTTINGHAM: Nirmalendran, Savage, Dodge, Molenaar, Jackson (Stannard 65), Barlow (Stenhouse 53), Springall (Thompson 53), Parr (Fowkes 57), Loney (Hopkins 42), N. Hall, Raven, Rouse (Morley 57), Hammond, Sherriff (Duffey 26 – Blood), Montague. Tries: Sherriff (2 & 9), Raven (15 & 45), Jackson (54), Nirmalendran (63) and Molenaar (73). Conversions: Barlow 3 and Stenhouse 3. Penalties: Barlow 1. Yellow cards: Loney (28), Hall (40). 

SEDGLEY PARK: Riley, Jope, Briers (Lamprey 63), Voortman (Duffy 56), C. Hall, Jones, Albinson (Leck 58), Evans (Gazzola 54), Roddam (Keys 70), Du Plessis (Roberts 65), Fourie (Swart 54), Norton, Newton, Ponton, Skurr.