Derby made 3 changes to the starting XV for the difficult trip to Oundle. Sam Tebbs returned to the forwards while Jack Partington and Jack Dawson formed a new centre partnership.
Derby kicked off on a glorious, sunny day and Oundle immediately knocked on. From the scrum Derby moved the ball and Jack Dawson burst through, to mark his return to Derby with a try.
Oundle started to exert some pressure and scored a converted try of their own after 14 minutes, to take the lead.
Oundle continued to press, but Derby kept them at bay and after 30 minutes took the lead.
The Derby forwards drove over the Oundle try line and Jeri Oldfield touched down. Josh Bingham converted to make the score 12 – 7 in Derby’s favour.
Unfortunately, Derby did not deal with the Oundle kick off and Oundle took full advantage to score another converted try.
With 4 minutes remaining in the half, a high tackle allowed Josh Bingham to kick a penalty, meaning Derby led 15 – 14 at the break.
The Derby supporters suspected that the 2nd half would be tough, with the slope and breeze in Oundle’s favour.
The first 10 minutes confirmed this, with Oundle dominating but being kept out by excellent Derby defence.
After 14 minutes, Patrick Burke intercepted a pass in Derby’s 22 and sprinted away. A superb run was halted just short of the line, but Derby were unable to capitalise on the position. 5 minutes later, Jack Dawson received a yellow card to make Derby’s task even harder.
With 13 minutes left, Oundle finally scored a converted try to take the lead.
Derby were not finished though and McGrath Van Wyk kicked the ball across field and close to the Oundle try line. Oundle gathered the ball, but the arriving Derby forwards pushed them back allowing Jack Bates to touch down.
This left Derby 1 point behind as the game entered injury time.
The 6 minute period of injury time contained plenty of drama!
Derby were awarded a penalty with 2 minutes left. Josh Bingham stepped up and kicked Derby into the lead.
Oundle were then awarded a kickable penalty. The crowd held its breath, but the penalty drifted wide and the final whistle blew.
Another tremendous defensive effort was the key to the 3rd win in 3 games.
Stoke on Trent visit Haslams next week.
Come on Derby!
Report by: R.Bambra