Captain Craig Hammond hails Nottingham forwards

Hammond was born in Singapore

Captain Craig Hammond praised Nottingham's forwards after their 40-15 Championship win over Doncaster.

Tries from Sione Kalamafoni (2), Phil Eggleshaw and Tim Streather helped secure a bonus-point victory.

Hammond, who also went over for a try, told BBC Radio Nottingham: "We needed to make our scrum and line-out better than Sunday and that functioned well.

"We got the ball out wide and gave the backs some ball and they scored some good tries, so we're happy."

The Green and Whites were beaten by Championship leaders Worcester on Sunday, but the win moves them 15 points clear of Doncaster in sixth and secures fifth place with two regular season games remaining.

The home side took the lead after only two minutes through James Arlidge's boot, but a defensive mix-up between Kalamafoni and David Jackson allowed Doncaster's Matthew Williams to run in an easy try.

Anything can happen in the top-eight and if we can get good ball to our backs, I'm pretty sure we can rip teams apart

Craig Hammond

Christian Lewis-Pratt added the conversion before Doncaster full-back Steven McColl extended the visitors' lead with a 55-metre penalty.

Hammond got a try back on his 251st appearance after a great break from Streather before an Arlidge penalty gave the hosts the lead. Kalamafoni then made up for his earlier mistake, breaking two tackles before sprinting to the line.

Starting the second half six points in front, Nottingham extended their lead when Eggleshaw finished off some elegant, quick-phase rugby after several line breaks.

Doncaster captain Steven Lawrie replied with a score off the back of a rolling maul, but the home side turned the screw, Arlidge's third penalty preceding a solo Streather try after the in-form centre won a race for the corner.

Man-of-the-match Kalamafoni scored his second try after a quickly-taken penalty, and with the play-offs now a month away, Hammond is looking ahead to the top-eight shoot-out.

The Kiwi said: "We still have a lot to work on, but anything can happen in the top-eight and if we can get good ball to our backs, I'm pretty sure we can rip teams apart."