Derby made 3 changes to the starting XV for the visit of second place Stourbridge. Sam Pittman, Jake Roome and James Godfrey came into the side while Jason McGuinnes made his debut from the bench. Ryan Cokayne made his first appearance of the season, also from the bench.
Skipper for the day, Lewis Hancock led the team out in light drizzle, which continued for most of the game.
Derby took only 2 minutes to take the lead; McGrath Van Wyk kicking a penalty.
16 minutes later, Stourbridge had scored 2 tries by keeping the ball alive through multiple phases.
On the half-hour mark, Derby scored a splendid try. Derby were deep in their own half, but moved the ball wide. McGrath Van Wyk kicked through and Will Town won the chase to the ball. He still had plenty to do, but he used his pace and twisted his way out of tackles to touch down, for his 4th try of the season. McGrath Van Wyk converted and Derby were level.
Just before the break, Stourbridge regained the lead, when a clever kick-through led to a try.
This left the score 15 – 10 to Stourbridge and Derby very much in the game!
The 2nd half started badly for Derby, with Stourbridge scoring a converted try after 2 minutes.
Derby narrowed the gap, with a McGrath Van Wyk penalty 5 minutes later.
Straight from the kickoff, Stourbridge scored another try, putting them 27 – 13 ahead.
After 58 minutes, McGrath Van Wyk kicked a penalty before Derby scored a fine individual try 4 minutes later.
After a line out on halfway, the ball wound up in Jerri Oldfield’s hands. He set off and could not be stopped, touching down in the corner!
This brought Derby to within 6 points of Stourbridge.
Unfortunately, that was as close as Derby got as Stourbridge closed the game out with 2 converted tries.
A fine effort from Derby against a good Stourbridge side.
Next week is a rest week, before Derby travel to The Horspath Sports Ground to take on league leaders Oxford Harlequins.
Come on Derby!
Report by: R. Bambra