A glorious spring day saw Derby trying to secure a 5th win in a row and probably secure safety.
Changes were made after the victory over Silhillians; Jack Partington started at fly half, while Jake Roome played in the centre. Jake Barker came into the back row.
Derby kicked off, but it was Dudley who struck first, with a penalty after 3 minutes.
5 minutes later, Jake Barker made a good break from a line out, but Derby were unable to take advantage.
They made sure in the next attack though, when a Sam Tebbs run created the space for Nathan Bevan Brown to score his 8th try of the season.
19 minutes had been played when Derby lost Jeri Oldfield to the sin bin, but excellent defence made sure the Dudley didn’t take advantage of the extra man.
Just as Derby returned to 15 players, Dudley lost 2 players to the sin bin in quick succession.
Derby made the space count and on the stroke of half time, Jake Roome crossed to extend Derby’s lead.
The half time whistle saw Derby 12 – 3 ahead.
Derby started the 2nd half well and went further ahead after 48 minutes. The ball made its way to McGrath Van Wyk and one outrageous dummy later he was in to touchdown under the posts. Lewis Hancock converted.
Jake Roome saw the 4th yellow card of the match 5 minutes later and this time Dudley made the advantage tell with a converted try.
This left the score 19 – 10 to Derby.
Crucially it was Derby who scored next, with 20 minutes remaining. The ball went down the back line and Lewis Hancock took the pass and accelerated away to score in the corner and gain the 4 try bonus point.
11 minutes remained when Lewis Hancock kicked a penalty, which meant that Dudley would need to score 3 times in the final stage of the match.
They managed 1 converted try, but Derby saw out the game to secure a vital win.
This was a good Derby performance, against a team they had never beaten in the league. When news filtered through that Silhillians had lost, joy was abundant as Derby had clinched their place in this league for next season; something which at Christmas had looked doubtful !
Credit must go to the players, coaches and all involved with the 1st team.
Derby have a week off next week, before they travel to Bridgnorth.
Come on Derby !
R. Bambra