Friday night rugby returned to Haslams, as they played Long Eaton for the second Friday in a row. Long Eaton had comfortably won their home game last Friday, so Derby needed to improve.
After the recent storms, Derby are waiting for their pitch to be repaired, so this game was played on grass !
Derby welcomed Jack Bates, Mike Johns and Andrew Fletcher back to the starting XV, while Cam Finlay returned from injury. Josh Tizard came in at scrum half, while Jeri Oldfield returned to the bench; his first appearance of the season after a long injury lay off.
Derby kicked off and were quickly on the front foot. An early Cam Finlay run set the tone as Derby continued to press the Long Eaton defence. Long Eaton were forced to settle for isolated forays into the Derby half, as excellent tackling and retention of possesion kept Derby on the front foot.
Despite all the pressure, Derby were unable to trouble the scorers. Just when it looked like the sides would be level at the break, Cam Finlay came off his wing and took the ball to surge over the line. McGrath Van Wyk added the conversion to leave Derby 7 – 0 up at the interval.
Derby started the 2nd half well and doubled the lead after only 2 minutes.
Andrew Fletcher picked the ball up on the 22 and Long Eaton had no defenders to stop him. He galloped away to score his 1st try for the side. With McGrath Van Wyk off the field, Josh Bingham kicked the conversion.
53 minutes had elapsed, when the Long Eaton scrum half was shown a yellow card. Derby took full advantage of the man advantage to score 2 tries in the 10 minute period.
Josh Tizard was the first to cross, before Jeri Oldfield celebrated his return by scoring under the posts. Josh Bingham added both conversions and Derby were 28 – 0 ahead and had the 4 try bonus point.
Derby continued to press and scored again with 9 minutes remaining. Lui TNatui was the scorer this time and Josh Bingham added the extras again.
Long Eaton scored a consolation converted try with 4 minutes remaining.
An excellent win and performance from Derby, which moves them to within 3 points of Silhillians and with a game in hand.
Derby are at Haslams again next week, when Bromsgrove are the visitors.
Come on Derby !
R. Bambra