Derby 12 Huddersfield 33
25/10/25
Derby returned to Haslams, after 2 tough away defeats, to face a strong Huddersfield side, who had won their previous 4 matches. An indication of their strength was the presence of Gareth Widdop, a Great Britain international at rugby league, in the centre.
Fred Johnson made his debut on the wing. It is a mark of the injury problems that Derby are having, that in doing so he became the 33rd player to appear in only the 7th game of the season.
Huddersfield kicked off and were on the attack straight away. They thought they had scored, but the referee penalised them for being offside in the build up.
Huddersfield were dominating the early exchanges and opened their account with a converted try, after 10 minutes.
5 minutes later they scored again and the conversion put them 14 points clear.
Derby started to gain some territory and a fine run from Sam Tebbs took them into try scoring range. They worked the ball to the backs and McGrath Van Wyk put Cam Finlay away to score. Josh Bingham converted to halve the deficit.
Derby continued to press and spent the rest of the half attacking the Huddersfield line. Despite being awarded a number of penalties and spending time on the Huddersfield line, they were unable to put any more points on the board before the break.
Huddersfield started the 2nd half well and pushed Derby back towards their own try line.
15 minutes of the half had elapsed, when Joe Acton intercepted a Huddersfield pass and sped away.
Derby recycled the ball well and a long Josh Bingham pass found prop Jeri Oldfield, on the wing and he crashed over to score and bring Derby within 2 points.
Huddersfield struck back immediately and sealed victory with a burst of 3 tries in 6 minutes.2conversions took them 21 points clear.
Derby continued to push Huddersfield back. Jake Roome made a break which ended with Jake Barker being stopped just short of the try line.
Despite all the pressure, Derby were unable to find anymore scores and the final whistle saw Huddersfield deserved victors.
Derby played well against a good team, but have now slipped to the bottom of the league. Some wins are needed soon to move them up the table !
There is no game next week and Derby’s next game is away at Leek on November 8th.
Come on Derby !
R. Bambra
