Derby U16s vs Burton
The first game of the season, welcoming Burton; our local rivals at home, with bad blood between the sides from last time. To say our lads were pumped would be an understatement.
After a minute’s silence held respectfully by both teams, the game started at a thunderous pace. Derby went over from close range after some good early pressure but Burton hit back quickly through their forward pack with a try of their own.
From that point on it was all Derby pressure. A couple of close-range tries followed but the one that stood out was a well-weighted cross field that our winger found to dot over in the corner after stepping the last few defenders. Burton came back with a try towards the end but Derby withstood some late pressure to close out the game in comfort. 33-10 win to Derby.
Amazing effort from 1-23, especially with our lads not rising to some very niggly play from Burton.
Particular mentions go to a few players. Our starting hooker Kyle who has gone from never playing rugby 6 months ago to making accurate darts at line out time and scattering defenders with his hard yards. Sam Jones had his usual faultless performance at 15, making good yards with the boot under pressure and never dropping a high ball. Max Stevens was nominated by the opposition after a great game at 13. His distribution to the wings and silky running was crucial. Our prop Matt Tatham led the time by example on his debut performance as captain. He made some great runs but more importantly liaised with referee respectfully and ensured discipline in our side despite rising provocation from Burton.
Great effort all-round Lads and roll onto next week!
Derby U15s vs Ashfield
Derby’s first game of the season took them to a sunny and warm Larwood Park, an impressive newly built clubhouse was a real treat, wonderful facility. After a moments silence held from all sections of the club in respect of the Queen’s passing, the Derby U15s opted to kick.
Ashfields first 10mins started off a little uneasy with some unlucky handling errors and knock-ons which allowed Derby to get some early balls over the line and conversions. Contrary to pre-season, Derby put into practice the midweeks coaching and showed strong discipline in the break downs, allowing them to control the tempo and play of the game. Ashfield, continued to hold their own, bombarding the Derby attack with some brave and fearless tackling and rucking by all.
Ashfield continued to look dangerous when spreading the ball out to the backs, forcing the Derby defence to up the tempo. At half time, Derby were up by a handful of tries and conversions. Tries came from both forwards and backs, a solid team first half performance from both sides, Derby however getting the rewards of the points.
With Ashfield now really fired up, the pressure was on Derby during the second half, Ashfield didn’t give Derby any space for the first 10mins, forcing Derby to concede a few penalties, hands in the ruck, coming in at the side, offside from kicks. The Derby lads re-grouped, retained their discipline and dug deep to defend against the Ashfield attack. Ashfield mixed it up constantly with kicks going deep into the Derby half, most however were gathered up and run/kicked straight back into the engine room of the Ashfield defence from Thomas “Billy Whizz” Bull.
Both sides scrummaged well, Ashfield had a solid push and great lift/control during set plays at the line out which forced Derby to think and work hard.
A the close of the game, the 0-50 score line flattered Derby a little and didn’t reflect Ashfields game on the day. That said, it was a wonderful team performance form Derby which made all the difference on the day, very difficult to single out any 1 or 2 individuals.
Some “firsts” of note during the game. Isaac captain(well done Isacc), Tobin Bailey-Hill slotting over some conversions, Rory Watt having his first go at full back, Alex Carpenter scoring a try, Archie and Hudson playing in their first ever game for Derby RFC. I have to say however , apart from the teams solid discipline in attack and defence my personal 2 favourites were 1) Watching what looked like 10 crazed teenagers scrambled panic for the ball, to see Barney Brown appear from the bottom of it with the prize in his hands, the smile was priceless… and 2) Witnessing Bobby Schroder (who by his own admission would say kicking is not the strongest part of his game) have a go at what looked like an impossible conversion from the side line for the last kick of the game, nobody could believe what happened next… not only did it go through the sticks, he hit the ball which such determination and ferocity it cleared above the sticks and was still rising… I think people are still looking for the ball a day later.. Well done Bobby, I hope you’ll never forget that.
Ashfield made some lovely comments to the Derbys performance, in addition special mention towards the Derbys center, Ethan Harrison, for his forward play and solid tackling from Bobby Schroder. Derby’s 9/10 combination of Adam Binns and Tobin Bailey-Hill also made a mention.
We thank Ashfield for their gracious and accommodating hospitality making us all feel so welcome. The referring was excellent from Ashfield, allowing the play to flow, safely. Derby’s coaches and referees commended Ashfields rugby values of teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship – the lads are credit to the Ashfield club.
Captain on the day was Isaac Scollen, Forwards lead Ben Howell, Backs lead Ben Eastern.
Derby U13s vs Long Eaton
This weekend saw a fantastic start to the season for the u13s. The team have had a few battles to overcome during the summer break; including the retirement of the two Head Coaches and the move to Junior rugby.
As the team went up against old friends Long Eaton, the team were excited.
We started the day with a minutes silence for the Queen, which was held around one of the pitches with all attending teams.
Moving on to the match, coaches agreed to split the game into quarters to allow for the half game rule.
Both teams played incredibly well and there was equal pressure from both teams. Each side delivered fantastic six man scrums for the first time in their playing career.
The end of the match resulted in a score of 7 tries to 5 with a Long Eaton win, but it was an incredibly close run game and the effort Derby put in is well worth noting.
Man of the match went to James Clark and Josh Farmer.
The team would also like to make a special mention to George Shaw. George sustained a nasty injury during Wednesday’s training, which resulted in surgery. It was a tremendous pleasure to have him come down and support his team this weekend.
One team- one family!