DERBY FESTIVAL UNDER 7s

The Under 8s tournament was a total success despite Burton failing to turn up and Paviors being unable to field a second team. 

The coaches met and agreed that each league winner would go straight through to the final, while the four runners up would play a semi-final and final for the plate. 

Derby A team was in a league with Melbourne and Paviors.

After two solid performances at Ilkeston and the NLD, Derby A team were hopeful of picking up a trophy at their own festival. Derby A’s first match was against Melbourne a bit of a local Derby and a chance for some playground bragging rights for a number of the players who go to the same school. After a competitive 1st half Derby was able to over run Melbourne in the 2^nd half and win by a good try margin. After a short interval Derby A were back on to face Paviors, a very competitive 1^st half, there was very little between the teams but after an inspirational team talk Derby A lifted their game enough to win a guaranteed place in the cup final. As we waited to play our final match against Percy Park the sky opened and the temperature dropped, it was nice to see the lengths some of the parents will go to keep warm and their feet dry whilst supporting their kids.

With Derby A all fired up they started and finished the first half in style against Percy Park winning the half 3 trys to 1, but not to be out done Percy Park came back strong in the second half and with both sides giving nothing away a well fought contested ended 5 trys all, probably the fairest result as neither side deserved to lose. An excellent game to watch and a great way to end the Derby A team’s involvement in this years Derby Festival.  

Derby Bs group included Ilkeston and the touring team Percy Park .  The first game was between Percy Park and Ilkeston, Ilkeston only had six players so Percy Park loaned them two so they had a sub! 

Percy Park ran out easy winners, looking forward to meeting Derby B in the next game.  At the beginning of the season Percy Park had easily beaten Derby A side so the B side should not have been a problem, however they kept pace with Percy Park and only finished one try behind them.  The final league game was against Ilkeston who lacked the running pace of the Derby squad putting Derby second in the league to play the team that came third in the Derby A team's league. 

Derby B teams semi final was against Melbourne, which Derby B comfortably won putting them in the final against Paviors who they had already met twice at the Three County Festival once in their league where they drew and then in the quarter finals where they lost by one try.  The Plate Final was again a close game, refereed brilliantly by Paviors Welsh coach (an unbiased Welshman, it was a remarkable day).  The game ended with Paviors A winning by one try.  Both teams parents joined to make a tunnel to applaud the sides off the pitch.  In this age group, at least, it looks like Derby and Paviors will have a happy relationship through the years to come.  

All games were played in excellent spirit. 

DERBY FESTIVAL UNDER 9s

DERBY FESTIVAL UNDER 10s

Match 1: Derby Wasps 1 - 0 Percy Park  

Having made a long journey, Percy Park was a little slow out of the blocks and an incisive break by George Boden early on found Parks defence wanting. He was able to feed Kit Macdonald who scored in the corner having supported well. Park came into the game after this with a tough, abrasive style through the middle of the park, but Derby showed great determination to quell these challenges and ended up deserved winners.

Team: Tom Morgan, Louis Johnson, Max Johnson, Drew Farquaharson, George Boden, Jacob Watts, Gabriel Beresford, Kit MacDonald, Charlie Storr.

Match 2: Derby Wasps 1 - 1 Stoke  

Derby looked set to repeat the previous games’ victory as they got of to another good start with a try by James Fish. But an uncompromising Stoke side came back into it with a couple of strong forwards making inroads in to Derby ’s resolute defence. Derby stuck to their game plan of trying to work it wide as they strove for the odd try in 3 but it wasn’t to come.

Team: Tom Taylor, Charlie Storr, Henry Szymdt, Drew Farquaharson, George Boden, James Fish,  Tom Morgan, Kit MacDonald, Max Johnson.

Thanks to all parents and coaches for their support in what was a difficult but successful day.

DERBY FESTIVAL UNDER 11s  

Two teams were entered for the Festival with the second team comprising a lot of newer players supplemented by a few players from Burton , making it a Barbarians side.  

Although losing three games and drawing one, the Barbarians side showed tremendous spirit and determination but not surprisingly for a scratch team were caught out organisationally.  

The first two pool games matched them against Burton and Stoke but the Barbarians side made them fight all the way.  In the final game against Paviors the Barbarians got a richly deserved draw and scored their first try of the tournament when Taz Moulton ran two thirds of the length of the pitch to score.  

In the plate semi-finals the Barbarians came up against a strong Melbourne team who had already held the Derby first team and despite a gallant effort were unable to hold out and Melbourne eventually ran out comfortable winners.

All the lads will have benefited from the extra match time and there are a huge number of positives to be taken from the performances, both collectively and individually.  Heads never dropped and they kept working to the final whistle.  

Thanks to Burton for helping get the squad together.  

Barbarians squad: Taz Moulton, Max Cook, Thomas Doyle, Ian Temple, John Brunt, Matthew Rowley, Alex Ham, Dominic Murray, Jack Drayton, Andrew Parker, Daniel Cole, Jamie, Nick Rankin.  

In the other pool the Derby A team, fresh from victories at NLD and Ilkeston were very slow out of the blocks but improved as the weather deteriorated and ran out tournament winners after a hard fought semi final and final.  

The opening match saw the side pitted against local rivals Melbourne and the usual close match followed.  Despite having the better of the possession and territory Derby were unable to break down a resilient and determined Melbourne team and the game ended in a 0-0 draw.  

In the second match, Ilkeston provided the opposition and were overall more determined and committed than the hosts and put Derby under considerable pressure.  Derby ’s defence was well organised but eventually Ilkeston’s pressure paid and they scored the only try of the game leaving Derby facing the prospect of competing for the plate rather than the cup.  

Following Harrison’s example the forwards hit the rucks and mauls more effectively allowing Myles Costello to launch attacks through the backs although fittingly it was Harrison who scored the decisive try, forcing his way over from close range with the help of the rest of the pack.  The try was well deserved especially as he had had a try disallowed moments earlier.  

Having scraped their way into the cup semi-finals, Derby went from strength to strength, playing their best rugby of the festival.  And cometh the hour, cometh the man with the semi-final and final becoming the Marcus Axelson show.  Promoted from the junior squad as replacement for the injured George Tresidder, Marcus set about the opposition like a man possessed.  

All the tries came in the second half.  Axelson scored twice with determined aggressive runs, leaving numerous Stoke players in his wake.  The third try was altogether more subtle.  Full back George Castledine launched a counter attack in his own half supported by Nick Rigg.  When the gap appeared he was through with the precision of a surgeon’s knife to make the game safe.  

So on to a final against Burton and another hard fought match.  By now the forwards were firing on all cylinders and refused to yield an inch in the loose while also having the better of the lineouts allowing George Castledine to keep Burton pinned back with a series of booming kicks.  Tom Kent’s sniping runs also allowed the forwards to set a good platform and a steady flow of quick ball resulted but Burton held firm and the teams turned round at half time with the score 0-0.  

Early in the second half Derby took the lead following another rampaging run from Axelson who ran through three tackles to score in the corner.  

As expected Burton came back hard and Derby were forced to absorb a lot of pressure before, following some excellent forward driving, George Groom powered over for the second try.  

There was just enough time for Marcus Axelson to scythe through the opposition defence again leaving a stream of players in his wake to make the final score 15-0.  

After a decidedly sluggish start the team came good and showed they were able to grind out wins against tough opposition with the forwards making the hard yards and looking to impose them on the other team.  

Derby Squad : Myles Costello (captain), Alistair Wolff, Alex Tomlinson, Luke McNeilly, Reece Harrison, Will Skeates, James Brentnall, Harvey Baines, George Groom, Barnaby Parkes, Tom Kent, David Eades, Nick Rigg, George Castledine, Marcus Axelson, Joseph Wright and Alex Barbour.

DERBY FESTIVAL UNDER 12s

If 2004 was perfect (sunburn all round) and 2005 was near perfect (great weather until the last whistle of the last game, when the heavens opened) the weather for the 2006 Derby festival was nothing short of abysmal!  Two teams from the Under 12s were entered for this years event with Stags coming up against some strong teams in their group (in Paviors, Ilkeston and Melbourne) whilst Tigers were drawn against Burton , Paviors A and Stoke.   

Qualifying group Games

Derby Tigers 20 - 00 Burton

Derby Stags 00 - 05 Ilkeston

Derby Stags 05 - 10 Melbourne

Derby Tigers 15 - 00 Stoke

Derby Stags 20 - 00 Paviors B

Derby Tigers 15 - 00 Paviors A  

First up in the group stage for the Tigers was a match-up with Burton.  Some neat midfield switching and looping early on in the game saw George Campbell go over for an early try closely followed in quick succession by tries from Ben Wilkinson, from a line out steal close to the line.  Tigers dominance in the first half continued over into the second with a further two tries from Ben Wilkinson, taking it over from a scrum 20 yards out, and Josh Watts picking the ball up from a ruck close to the line. 

Stags were up next against an Ilkeston side which has come on leaps and bounds in the last season getting better each time we’ve come up against them.  A try-less first half saw Stags soak up some pressure before eventually letting Ilkeston sneak in for a try just after half time and in the end the chance to get close to Ilkeston’s line and put in a score was just a bit too much of an ask.  

Plate Semi Final:

Derby Stags 00 - 10 Burton  

Cup Semi Final:

Derby Tigers 00 - 00 Melbourne

Cup Final:

Derby Tigers 15 - 00 Paviors A  

Stags deservedly got through to the plate semi-final coming up against Burton.  Straight from the kick-off Burton went ahead  and from then on, even although they soaked up so much pressure, it was going to be difficult to get back in contention.

A charge down from a defending kick close to our line saw Burton sneak in a second try and run out eventual winners. 

All in all, despite the weather, it was another good day out for both squads. Stags in particular looked really organised with everyone working well, on and off the ball.  For the Tigers it was good preparation for Gulliver qualifying (over the Easter weekend) with some skilful handling from the backs and solid work in the engine room from the forwards.  Its not often I pick out individuals but a big thanks goes out to all those guys who stepped into squads that they don’t usually play for, they made a big difference!