The rearranged fixture against Old Halesonians caused a number of availability problems for Derby. Jeri Oldfield, James Godfrey, Josh Ridley, Ryan Cokayne and Jake Roome returned to the starting XV while James Foster made his first start of the season.
Derby kicked off on a sunny but cool day.
Derby led by 6 points after 6 minutes, thanks to 2 penalties from Ben Wilcox.
Derby were keeping the ball well at this stage and went further ahead 10 minutes later when Ben Wilcox beat the last defender to score. He then converted his own try.
Two minutes later it was Ben Wilcox again who dummied his way over the line to extend the lead to 18 – 0.
Derby were dominant at this stage and extended their lead on the half-hour mark. Lewis Hancock received the ball out wide and sped away from halfway to touch down under the posts. Ben Wilcock added the conversion.
1 minute before the interval, Old Halesonians made a good break which led to a converted try.
Derby kicked off and Old Halesonians didn’t gather it. Rhondell Stabana gathered and sped away to score. Ben Wilcox’s conversion completed the half, with Derby 32 – 7 ahead.
Derby started the second half strongly, with another try for Ben Wilcox completing his hat trick. His conversion put Derby 32 points ahead.
McGrath van Wyk received a yellow card after 50 minutes and Old Halesonians made the most of the man advantage to score their second converted try.
Old Halesonians continued to press, looking for a 4 try bonus point, but excellent Derby defence kept them out.
Derby put the seal on victory with 2 tries in injury time. Both wingers, Will Town and Lewis Hancock scored using their pace to race clear of the defence. One conversion from Ben Wilcox took him to a match tally of 31 points.
An excellent win, which sets Derby up nicely for the difficult away trip to Banbury. The Banbury game will complete the first half of the season!
Come on Derby!
Report by: R. Bambra
Photos by: Shaun Hardwick