Derby won the Championship without a try being scored against them  

The Under 9 coaches set the following ambitions for the season

1. To have the largest and happiest squad in Derby RFC’s Minis and Junior section

2. To have players not selected for a tournament to come anyway to support their team mates

3. To win a game without the opponents scoring

4. To win a game with every team member scoring

5. To learn from losing

They didn’t dream of going through a tournament without having a try scored against them.  

The under 9s usually start well and then lose their discipline, Sunday was no exception they started at a gallop and quickly racked up five tries against Grimsby allowing the whole of the squad to get on the pitch in the first game.    The second game went similar to the first with three tries being scored early on against Nottingham ; again all players had time on the pitch.  

In the third game Derby nearly came unstuck, they started with a changed line up knowing Newark had not performed too well in their previous games, however Newark had raised their game and gave Derby many a scare, Derby eventually scraped a win 1 try to nil and again playing all players.  

The pool they played in contained six teams but the competition was stopped when each had played three games.  The initial declared result was Newark was through to the semi-finals, Derby second in the play-offs and Mansfield third.  Mansfield and Derby politely questioned the decision particularly as Derby had scored 9 tries without a reply and were the only side not to lose a game.  Derby were promoted to the semi-finals with Mansfield in the play-offs.  

We are quick to criticise refs and very rarely commend them.  Derby would have had little argument if the referee had given a try; I understand Alex the ref has now had his life membership of Lincoln RFC rescinded. 

Derby five wins, no losses, 11 tries for, none against.  

Squad: Gabriel Beresford, George Boden, Drew Farquharson, James Fish, Louis Johnson, Kit MacDonald, Tom Morgan, Jack O’Callaghan, Henry Szmydt, Tom Taylor, Alex Todd, Jacob Watts

Team A    Derby Hornets  

Kit MacDonald (capt), Gabriel Beresford, James Fish, Jack O’Callaghan, Drew Farquahson, Tom Taylor, George Boden, Alex Todd, Louis Johnson, Henry Szmydt, Tom Morgan.  

Derby progressed well through the league with very solid performances against both Paviors and St Albans who themselves displayed some excellent rugby.  All the team played well and were supportive of each other in a quest to finally win a festival having come so close to doing so the previous week at Ilkeston.  

Match 1    -    Derby 02 - 00 St Albans (tries Jack O’Callaghan & James Fish)

Match 2   -     Derby 03 - 00 Paviors (tries Tom Morgan, Jack O’Callaghan, Louis Johnson)

Semi Final -   Derby 05 - 01 Mold (tries Louis Johnson, Jack O’Callaghan (2), George Boden, Drew Farquahson)

FINAL -         Derby 04 - 00 St Albans (Jack O’Callaghan (2), George Boden, Henry Szmydt)

All the squad excelled on the day and Derby were finally victorious following nearly a full season of very hard work.  Special mention should be given to Drew Farquahson, Alex Todd, Gabriel Beresford and Henry Szmydt all of whom gave excellent performances during the tournament.  Well done lads and keep up the hard work.

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Team B    Derby Wasps

Jack Denis, James Allen, Declan Willis, Sam Hughes, Hugo Allen, Time Collins, Rory King, Tom Bigland, John Watkins, George Burke, Jack Rollings,

This was the first Derby festival for some of the players and they wanted to give it all they had for their club.

Match 1    -    Derby 1 - 4 Mold (try Jack Rollings)

Match 2   -     Derby 0 - 2 Melbourne

Match 3   -     Derby 4 - 3 Belper (tries Tom Bigland (2), Jack Rollings,

All the team played some good rugby against some good hard tackling teams, unfortunately missing out on getting to the semi final.  Well played.

14 U9’s went to represent Derby, the team consisted of regular festival players plus those who haven’t competed in festivals before.  Having won 2 out of 3 matches they went forward to play Lincoln in the semi-final.  Tough game but came out on top winning 1 – 0 and through to the final against Matlock.  Having lost earlier to Matlock they knew they were a tough team to beat. They all played very well as a team but unfortunately lost 2 –1.  They finished the day being runners-up and proud.  

Well done!  

The Under 9s took 14 of their development squad to Ilkeston. Ilkeston had only 8 players for the 9 aside match. Derby asked for volunteers to play for Ilkeston the players were told the game would be split into four ten minute sessions so a volunteer would only play for ten minutes in Ilkeston's side and would be available to play for Derby for the other three sessions. We also agreed to have a coach on the pitch to help the players development.  The match was played in an excellent spirit and the Ilkeston and Derby supporters mixed together to give encouragement to both sides. Both sides at varying times had the lead, with Derby eventually scoring seven tries to Ilkeston's three. Most of Derby's tries were scored in the last quarter when we were playing down hill with Ilkeston tiring.  Jack O'Callaghan managed to score tries for Ilkeston and Derby! Five Derby players played for Ilkeston at varying times during the match.

Derby's U9s in action

Match Report & Photo by Ray & Elaine