Derby travelled to Barkby Road, looking to improve on their 67 – 11 defeat to Syston in September.
They gave debuts to Thamsanqa Madondo in the 2nd row and Neldus Kruger at fly half. Tom Mycroft came off the bench to make his 1st appearance of the season.
The problems Derby are having this season were encapsulated by having to make 6 changes to the selected squad on Saturday morning.
Derby kicked off, but were soon in trouble against the league leaders.
14 minutes had elapsed and Derby were 21 – 0 down, with Syston scoring 3 converted tries.
Derby then had a spell of pressure but were unable to turn territory into points, despite being just short of the Syston try line.
Syston scored further tries in the 25th and 29th minutes. With 1 conversion added, Syston led at the break 33 – 0.
It didn’t take Syston long to get on the scoreboard in the 2nd half. In fact, they scored 4 tries in the opening 19 minutes and added 2 conversions to stretch their lead to 57 points.
It would have been easy for Derby’s heads to drop at this point, but they continued to battle away, making tackles and competing for every ball.
Derby had a spell of pressure, which culminated in Sam Tebbs being stopped just short of the try line.
Syston scored another converted try, with 4 minutes left but Derby still kept coming.
They finally got the try their efforts deserved, when Nathan Bevan Brown surged forwards and stretched out to touch down.
McGrath Van Wyk added the conversion and in doing so, scored his 500th point.
The full-time whistle saw Syston as worthy winners, but Derby can take great heart from the way they kept battling until the end.
Derby are in a relegation battle; they are currently 8 points from safety. They do have 2 games in hand, but they need to start winning games soon.
They are at home to Nuneaton next week, in the last game before the Christmas break.
Come on Derby!
Report by: R. Bambra