Derby travelled to Stourton Park, looking to build on their victory against Nuneaton in their previous fixture.
Yet again injuries and unavailabilities caused widespread changes; the team sheet before kick off showed 10 changes to the 18 who faced Nuneaton although some of the changes were positional. Derby also have 3 of their 1st XV squad currently touring Australia!
Derby’s injury issues were encapsulated by James Cantrill. The winger was making his debut but had to be replaced by scrum half Tom Mycroft shortly after the start when he pulled up injured!
Derby kicked off and more than held their own in the opening exchanges, but it was Stourbridge who struck first, with a converted try after 16 minutes.
Derby put together some good phases of play after this and threatened the try line but were unable to breach strong Stourbridge defence.
Sam Tebbs and Thamsanqa Madondo in particular drove forward and made ground, but they were by no means alone in their efforts.
With 7 minutes of the half remaining, Stourbridge swept upfield and scored an unconverted try.
This left the halftime score 12 – 0 to Stourbridge.
Derby battled hard in the 2nd half but despite all their efforts, Stourbridge were too powerful and quick to be kept out.
Derby’s cause was not helped by 2 yellow cards to Jack Partington and Jack Bates, leaving them playing for 20 minutes with 14 men.
Stourbridge scored 5 second-half tries, but only managed 1 conversion.
Derby’s commitment and team spirit were summed up with the last play of the game when it would have been easy for heads to have dropped, but they kept trying to play rugby and were rewarded with a try.
The ball was moved wide and Tom Mycroft stepped inside to touch down for his 1st try for the team. Lewis Hancock converted and the final whistle went.
This result leaves 4 points behind Dudley Kingswinford in 11th place.
Next week Kenilworth will visit Derby.
Come on Derby!
Report by: R. Bambra