A typical winter Saturday saw Derby 2XV take the relatively short trip over the border into rural Nottinghamshire to play the reverse fixture against Keyworth. There were two debutants stepping up from colts’ rugby into seniors: Joe Acton in at scrum half and Alex Clarke on the bench, a substitute for the backrow.
Keyworth kicked off with a tidy set piece regained possession, made ground towards Derby’s 22. They pushed on and fed the ball to the left wing but were thwarted by Patrick Burke with a timely tackle on ex-teammate Adam Mansouri who fumbled the ball.
Derby made hard work to make ground out of their half, both teams traded blows between the 10s, after a knock-on by Keyworth Derby were able to win the first scrum of the game and push on into the Keyworth half.
Keyworth were able to regain possession, pushing Derby back into their half with multiple penalties, after the third the option of three points and to open the scoring was too tempting and Keyworth slotted home the first points of the game.
Derby restarted, driving Keyworth back into their 22 but were unable to keep them from gaining ground. After forays from each team, Derby drove across the halfway line, unfortunately there was a coming together leaving one of the Keyworth pack injured, stopping the game for a short while.
More infringements from both sides around the ruck started a short spell of contrition, another penalty for Keyworth gave the opportunity to further increase their lead but the ball flew wide.
Keyworth kept the pressure up keeping Derby on the back foot defending deep in their 22, that was until Rhys was able to break down the right, creating a two-on-one on the right wing, timing the pass to Ryan Milton to perfection putting him into space skinning the fullback and running the opening try of the game. Unfortunately, Ryan was not able to convert his own try, this was the last play of the first half.
Half Time 3-5
The second half started with more penalties for both teams, Keyworth seen the offenders in and around the ruck, Derby took the advantage, pushing Keyworth back deep in their half and were able to make it count with Max Thompson crossing the line with a sneaky try off the back off a ruck seeing a slender game in Keyworth’s defence. Ryan extended the lead with a successful conversion.
Not wanting to let Derby make hay, Keyworth regrouped, made their way down the pitch and were rewarded another penalty chance to reduce the deficit and was duly dispatch through the uprights.
In recent seasons previous Derby teams may have been broken by the weight of the pressure and physicality by Keyworth, but this sides resilience has never wavered. Looking to hit back Derby fought hard to gain a foothold in the Keyworth half, stretching them pushing the ball wider, creating a weaker defence. After increased pressure and putting Keyworth on the back foot, young Joe Acton like Max saw a gap ran through and crossed the line scoring his first senior try. Ryan Milton was unsuccessful with the conversion attempt.
The final minutes of the game saw Derby play with maturity, keeping the ball, not allowing Keyworth any chance of scoring a try and gaining a losing point.
Full Time 6-17
Joe and Alex, both excelled themselves today and looked completely comfortable in second team rugby, but man of the match for today’s game for Derby was Rhys Colrein, his lines in attack and strength in defence kept Keyworth’s backline at bay.
Derby 2s still top of the pile and keep their unbeaten run going, onwards and upwards. Up the bibs!
As a community club, we have a strong bond between players and the coaching team, today’s game and result are dedicated to one of our own, Jo Gregson, currently in hospital. We wish her a speedy recovery.
Report by Graham Finlay and Ollie George