Derby went into this tournament benefiting from the Sandal 7s the previous week, but suffering from an 18^th birthday party and a Beesty Night Out the previous day. With some expected late arrivals we opened up with a convincing win over West Bridgford ‘A’ (eventual Plate Winners) by 34 – 0. All looked good, with tries for Glover, Toolan, Hobbs, Hobson, Sharma and Jones plus 2 conversions. Next up were Newark who had beaten Loughborough very easily and looked like they played ‘proper 7s’. The game was closely contested but Newark had a couple of live-wires who scored good tries. Sam Hobbs and Ewan Jones both scored tries as we trailed by 4  tries to 2. Then it happened…. Hobbs took the ball deep in his own half , made ground, then kicked ahead and chased. The Newark defender gathered and as Sam made contact managed to get the ball away, but the two players fell to the ground and barracked each other. Newark player threw a punch and (allegedly) Sam threw 5 back, spotted by the ref of course. The long, drawn out admonishment inevitably resulted in a red card and no further part in the game or tournament for Sam. In keeping with the name C5W that former Colts captain Charlie Woodward earned from his senior tour experiences, I believe Sam should hereinafter be known as S5P! 

Not surprisingly Newark managed to exploit an overlap or two in the last few minutes and ran out winning by 40 odd to 10. As the day warmed up, the pitches got even harder and shirts came off, we prepared for the next game against old rivals Matlock. A pretty average performance resulted in a 14 – 17 loss with tries for Sanjay Sharma and Ewan Jones. No worries we thought, should win the plate easily and avoid any more tough teams! Of course we still had to win our last group game, easily managed, despite the colour clash (nobody volunteered to play in ‘skins’ – I wonder why!) against Loughborough 31 – 13, with tries from Sam Gourlay, Kyle Perks and 2 for Ewan Jones (if only he didn’t grunt like a lady tennis player every time he goes into contact, he would be far more plausible!!) and somebody else. 

Unfortunately Matlock’s late arrival forced them to play 2 game on the trot and whilst expected to lose to Newark they contrived to be well beaten by West Bridgford so we ended up second in the group after all and had to play Chesterfield in the Cup semi-final, another team playing ‘proper 7s’ in whooping all their opponents in the other league. So we moved onto the even harder pitch 1 to play long-time adversaries from North Derbyshire. Chesterfield started with an excellent kick-off, re-gathered, moved the ball about a bit and scored. We made a few mistakes, they scored again and again. We talked about digging deep at half time and did well, with Ewan Jones keeping up his ‘try per match’ performance with another strong run, but Chesterfield are a decent side and scored two more tries to win comfortably. Interestingly Newark beat Chesterfield in the final 21 -17. 

Well done to the whole squad for competing in hot conditions with horrible grazes to all parts of the body either before the game started or soon into the tournament.

Squad: Adam Glover, Harvey Toolan, Sam Hobbs (S5P), Sam Gourlay, James Robertson, Ross Cawley-Nash, Clark Hobson, Sanjay Sharma, Kyle Perks, Ewan Jones and Liam Emmett.

And so it came to pass, 10 Colts travelled to Wakefield on a factor 30 sunny morning in Derby to arrive in minus 30 Wakefield for a fun filled day of showboating and glorious celebrations. The instructions were clear, expansive festival rugby, enjoy the day and come home with silver and in our own little way we achieved the lot!! 

The first match was against Hull Ionians who we watched despatch a strong Morley ( eventual winners of the Shield ) side earlier, in between some energetic warming up and even more energetic naming of some showboat moves. 2 minutes in and some genuine cat and mouse 7s rugby saw Ewan released in his own 22, first try on the board, conversion and we were 7-0 up. He even got in a soldier celebration!!! Unfortunately one slick move and one missed tackle meant we were 14-7 down shortly afterwards and never destined to recover. Never mind Morley were next, a game we couldn’t lose, unfortunately we played rugby they played 7s and we lost by 6 points. As I’ve already said they eventually won the Shield creaming the rest of the teams so…

Waiting for us in the bowl semi final were Sandal Bs! Anyone who has been to Sandal for any type of festival know they don’t enter teams to lose their own events this time however they did!!! At last this scratch team put together at the last minute started to gel. I’m not sure what the score was but the result was never in doubt despite a fluffed “leapfrog”!! We won’t forget that for a long time Clarke!! 

And so to the final. Derby 43 v 17 Baildon. We scored 2 tries they scored 3 and at half time Baildon were leading. Turning around at half time I invoked the memories of the 2003 NLD u15s cup final when we beat Scunthorpe 20-19 having trailed 3-19 at half time. ( Not that any of this team played in that final but as this is probably my last ever match report I thought I’d give it a mention!!!! )The second half was a feast of 7s with the crowning glory being a magnificent “Armageddon” move to score our seventh and final try. I think it was Sam who scored but amidst all the cheers and gasps of amazement and amusement from the vast throngs of spectators I’m not really sure which member of the 7 man rolling maul touched down. That’s the way to play 7s!!!!! 

Many thanks to all at Sandal for yet another wonderful event and the 3 beer vouchers, one for entering, one for winning and one for…actually I got 2 for entering but don’t tell anyone!! Finally well done to the squad of Cornfield, Perks, Hobbs, Hobson, Hudson, Jones, Toolan, Emmett, Burke and Glover. The tries were fairly evenly spread but leading try scorer was Glover!! The Rumplestiltskin award goes to Scott our very own hobo!! 

Bring on the NLD. 

Report by Jon Tizard 

ps Armageddon will have a new name by next week.

pps How are the blisters Kyle, the only person I know to be treated by St Johns before he stepped on to the field. At least you lasted 7 minutes eh!!

This was always going to be a tough match for Derby Colts, against a Colts side of a National Division 2 club, who have lost only twice this season, made even harder when influential forward Adam Glover was stolen from us by the 2nd team 5 minutes before kick-off. Stourbridge started strongly and Derby did not have any possession for the 1st 5 minutes, but defended well against bigger opposition. Eventually they moved out of their 22 and started to win some ball, but now Stourbridge showed that they could defend well as they repelled Derby’s attacks through the centre. Stourbridge were looking more dangerous in the backs as Derby’s defence was failing to ‘drift’, often leaving overlaps for the last defender to deal with. Not surprisingly a couple of tries were scored on the wings. Derby lost Jordan Burke with a sprained ankle forcing a re-shuffle, but were competing well. After a series of phases which had taken Derby into the Stourbridge 22, the ball was passed left from a ruck to Dan Brittan who raced in to the corner. Stourbridge added another try just before the interval to make the half-time score 5 – 19. 

The second half started and was evenly contested for the first 20 minutes with neither side really able to make good use of possession despite the dry conditions. A strong wind made passing slightly tricky, but neither side seemed prepared to get width on the attack. For Derby, flankers Ross Cawley-Nash and Sam Gourlay tackled well and Ewan Jones had a couple of strong runs. The hard pitch was starting to take its toll with a succession of stoppages for injuries to both sides. Some sloppy defending then let Stourbridge in for a soft try followed shortly afterwards by the best try of the game with a nice inside pass and 3 more passes in close support for a score under the posts. 

Derby finished strongly, however, pushing up into the Stourbridge 22. From a maul close to the line Harvey Toolan broke off and as he was stopped close to the line off-loaded to Sam Gourlay to score. Debutant U17 Reza Keshefi capped a promising display with the conversion. 

Footnote – two Colts players went over to be replacements for the second team (the game kicked off later) and both were needed in the last 15 – 20 minutes, thus making 7 U19s in the squad, following on from last week when, with the Colts game cancelled, there were 10 U19s in the 2nd team squad.

The Colts have already had one 0 – 0 result this season, in poor conditions in December, and it looked like we might have another in this match as both teams’ defences were strong, but Burton eventually scored a try after exerting considerable pressure for most of the 2^nd half. Unlike last time the conditions were pretty good (although a strong diagonal wind did affect the game and meant play was mostly at the clubhouse end of the pitch), but neither side was able to find the space to break through too often. 

Derby were missing a few regulars and further hampered when Sam Hobbs realised in the warm up that any serious movement was giving him great pain. Fortunately we had spare players this week, but all backs (until the long-lost Adam Buxton’s late arrival), so some makeshift reorganisation was required. But people playing out of position was no excuse for the poor support play, awful contact skills and general lacklustre performance that followed. Even the tackling, normally a strong point, was mediocre and the Colts were unable to string any phases together to make use of the wind advantage in the first half.  

In the second half Burton soon established territorial advantage, camped in Derby’s 22 and started to attack out wide and close in. At least now Derby realised that their defence needed to be better and put up stout resistance. Unfortunately Adam Glover spent 10 minutes in the sin bin for a high tackle (or clumsy collision), but still Derby held on. Derby had further injuries but just had enough replacements to cope, but Burton scored a try wide on the left with 10 minutes remaining and were worthy winners on the day.

For the second time this season the Colts took on one of the club’s senior sides. Having been out-thought by the 4ths to lose narrowly on a boggy pitch, in many respects their thinking was much better against the Devs, after the first 10 minutes at least, as they used their superior fitness and speed to good effect. What was also very encouraging was the Colts being prepared to match the physicality of the Devs, tackling like dervishes and taking the game to them both around the fringes, through the centre and out wide (as much as the conditions would allow). 

Both sides were short of a few players (in fact the Colts had to borrow Buddy for the full game – thanks Buddy – and also the oldest (widest?!?) Colt ever in Dave Richards for a large part of it, but the match was a good contest and good entertainment. Apart from the first 10 minutes that is, when the Colts forgot what had been said about the contact situation, lost too much ball and only tackled intermittently. Tries for Gareth Lyon and Jim Smith with one conversion meant we were 12 – 0 down. A few words were spoken and things improved! Now going lower into contact we were able to re-cycle ball and started to make inroads through the centre where Kyle Perks was running strongly. In the forwards Harvey Toolan and Sam Gourlay were working tirelessly, and Dan Walker did a good job in his first go at hooker. As we pushed upfield, Kyle broke a tackle on the 22 and cruised in for a score under the posts, converted by Goody, who also added a penalty shortly afterwards. 

The Devs then scored again, can’t remember the details – surely it wasn’t the great Campbell Wigley?, before the Colts again gained ground. I didn’t quite see how it happened but the ball somehow got into Tom Good’s hands metres from the try line and he gratefully accepted the score and converted off the cross-bar. That would make it 19 – 15 at half time – sound about right? With 2 replacements available the Colts made changes throughout. Newcomer Tom Kitson and ex-player Chris Impey, back from his home in Portugal, both tackled well throughout the game. Dave Richards was moved into the centre and helped with the organisation and tactical thinking. Sanjay had played a full game in the morning, but came on and made a big contribution including 2 fine steals in mauls.   

10 minutes into the second half Alex Tizard went down howling and had to be carried off with ankle ligament damage. His compensation was a trip in the nice ambulance and a few glugs of happy gas when his boot was removed! The Devs scored again some time around this period after a period of concerted pressure, finally broke through the Colts defence. This seemed to trigger the best from the Colts as they realised they could match the Devs in the forwards and were starting to look dangerous in the backs. Clarke Hobson made one great run but was unable to find his support at the critical moment. As the Devs started to worry, they gave away plenty of penalties. Glover had had a quiet game but it was as if somebody had lit the blue touch-paper on his a**e as he stormed into the Devs from a series of tap penalties. Eventually the ball was moved wide, Dave straightened, was held up just short and off-loaded to Sanjay to score. Goody again converted with an excellent kick in the conditions (I bet they don’t play on pitches like this at Trent too often!!). A minute remained, but the determined Devs held on for the win. 

Having missed the last two weekends due to bad weather and too many players involved with NLD U20s, this was a very worthwhile exercise for the Colts, even with some regulars missing. With 4 important games in the next two weeks it was excellent preparation, and if anybody from Chesterfield is reading this – we’re coming to get you on Wednesday!!

With the biggest squad size of the season and possibly the strongest line-up of the season the Colts travelled to Chesterfield for a midweek game with high hopes. However dreadful conditions for rugby coupled with some pretty poor performances meant these hopes were virtually dashed with 15 minutes as the Colts conceded 3 tries playing into the strong wind and rain. Chesterfield drove mauls well and handled much better in the backs than we did and scored 2 tries from forward drives and one from good running in the backs through some limp Derby attempts at tackles. Finally Derby started to play the style that the conditions required, with strong runs from Simmo, Glover and Bruce making ground upfield and Kyle and Michael also breaking through in the backs. Derby actually dominated the 2^nd quarter of the match and deservedly scored a try through Clark Hobson after the forwards had tied in the Chesterfield defence. With the Chesterfield bean-pole in the sin bin just before the interval, we needed to make an early impact in the second half. 

Unfortunately this did not happen. The ball was not kicked intelligently enough initially and finally when we did get down to the Chesterfield 22, we could not secure enough first phase possession let alone 2^nd phase, and Chesterfield’s defence was strong enough to cope with our limited attacking options. Admittedly it became so cold and horrible it was not surprising we did not vary the play much, but a few high balls in those conditions would not have gone amiss. 

So no tries in the 2^nd half, Chesterfield deserved winners, and to cap it all they then capitulated to Mansfield at the weekend to mean we had no chance of qualifying. Oh well, roll on some decent weather (oh yes and players telling me in good time when they are not available rather than causing embarrassment at arranging and then cancelling a match).

The Colts travelled to Leicestershire again to play Syston with perfect pitch and weather conditions and with an unusually large squad of 18 players. Unfortunately, the performance was less than perfect with poor decision making, passing, lines of running and kicking in abundance in the backs and a general lethargy in the forwards. Pretty much the only aspect of the game that was good throughout was the tackling, which was sound by both sides, nullifying each other’s attacks. 

Syston were winning plenty of possession in the early stages, but Derby defended well with centres Kyle Perks (Pelkes? – see the report on the NLD U20 game on the RFU website) and Sanjay Sharma wrapping up the midfield and Sam Hobbs and Ross Cawley-Nash dealing with the fringes. Adam Glover and Simon Long made ground several times for Derby, but in the backs we lacked a cutting edge. Eventually Syston won a series of possessions and broke through the defence for a converted try. A cut on Simmo’s eyelid led to uncontested scrums for a period and half time came with the score 0 – 7. 

With a slight slope and maybe a small breeze behind, Derby hoped to spend more time in the Syston half, but the half started evenly contested again with Syston’s kicking continuing to be far more effective than Derby’s. When Simmo returned we went back to contested scrums and that helped to engender a bit of directness to Derby’s play. Jordan Burke and Harvey Toolan were winning plenty of line-out and Bruce Pendrey in his first appearance as a prop made a good fist of it, but looked done for at the end of the match (but amazingly was up at 7.00 to go to a school’s 7’s tournament the next day after completing the ‘mile’ in the evening – fortunately for him it was called off!). As Derby pushed upfield a penalty in front of the posts was kicked for 3 points by Tom Swainston.  

Syston attacked again and spotted Derby had no full back (with Clark Hobson down with an ankle injury and kicked into the void. Sanjay tried to get back, but the bounce was kind to the Syston player who ran over for a try, no conversion, 3 - 12. Derby went back upfield and won some ball, Tom Swainston awoke from his slumbers to sell a dummy and squeeze over the line under the posts for an excellent first try of the season, converted it himself, 10 – 12. Around 10 minutes remained for Derby to salvage a result, and with changes continuing to be made due to injuries and to give all players reasonable game time the players maybe believed they could do it. Ed Wilkes made ground off the base of a scrum in the Derby half, the ball was re-cycled and Kyle got past half way, Glover broke off the edge of the maul, brushed aside a defender and approached the full back near the 22 with fellow member of the Ashbourne mafia Liam Emmett on his shoulder. Would he pass or would he bosh the full back and score himself or would he get tackled? Amazingly he passed (just a hint of being forward, oh all right much more than a hint), Liam caught it and cantered under the posts to cap a good game where he had played at 2^nd row, hooker and full back! Swainy converted, 17 – 12. 

With 5 minutes remaining Derby played their best rugby of the game and showed great determination as Syston  won phase after phase and Derby repelled each attack. Finally a cross kick into the dead ball area was grounded by Scott Hudson and the final whistle went. An evenly contested match which Syston probably just deserved to win, but Derby sneaked the result and that will hopefully help greatly in preparing for next week’s ‘must win’ NLD League match at Chesterfield. Surely we can do better than a 0 – 0 draw this time?

Let’s get the excuses out of the way first – Simmo playing in the 2s, Corny in the Devs, Scott playing 2^nd half for the Devs and Ewan last 15 minute for them, Tom Good injured, Swainy revising, Murf doing canoe polo, Dan B with flu, Dan W gone AWOL, Sam Hobbs likewise, Smarty having to work and Wadey injured (and also in love!). Maybe a couple of those players might have made a difference, and certainly a dry pitch would have done, but fair play to the 4ths they were worthy winners today. The Colts scored a try and converted with 5 minutes to go to take a 19 – 17 lead and it would have been a travesty if that had been the final score. The trusty boot of Dave Richards a couple of minutes later meant justice was done. 

Talking to some 4^th team players afterwards they said their 2 hardest games of the season were Derby Vets and Derby Colts and, whilst most clubs’ Colts teams would easily beat their own club’s 4^th team, this is a decent 4^th team as a glance down their reports for the season will reveal. The Colts started strongly and scored after 4 or 5 minutes with probably only 1 or 2 4^th team players touching the ball. The Colts won a series of phases and then moved the ball wide for Dan Milner to score. Possibly this try came too easily as for the next 30 minutes the Colts barely had the ball in their hands again as the 4^th played a sensible game involving runners around the fringes. Tackles were made, but the size of the 4^th team players meant they always got over the gain line making it easier to win the next phase. On the rare occasions the Colts got the ball they rushed things and made too many simple errors. The 4ths scored a try to level the scores and turned round at half time with a wind advantage that they were always likely to make better use of than the Colts had. Sure enough, despite heroic defence as the Colts were camped on their own line, eventually the pressure paid off and a converted try was scored. 12 – 5 to the 4ths. 

Not sure what the penalty was given for (and certainly the referee did not deal sympathetically with the Colts in terms of penalty / free-kick count in a game where they were under so much pressure) but it was given and converted. The Colts will hopefully have learnt from this experience – in particular tackle lower against bigger players and get a lower body position when taking the ball into contact. They fronted up pretty well and will be well placed when they play their next Colts opposition.

What a day! Two early morning cry-offs to add to other known unavailabilities, more scampering around to dredge up a team, a “12.00 prompt” meet turning into a “12.00 arrive to order and scoff a bacon buttie”, eventually leave at 12.20 ish assuming our man Kyle was going direct. When eventually he answered his phone we got “oh, I thought it was a home game”. Fortunately Jon Tiz was prepared to turn off the A38 at Toyota to speed back to Spondon for him and arrived (hopefully avoiding capture on the numerous speed cameras) at 2.13 for a 2.15 K.O. Thankfully D-K and the ref were prepared to delay the K.O. and off we went, not surprisingly playing like we were still on the Wolverhampton ring road for the first 15 minutes. Another crisis – Glover loses his contact lens. This time the hero was Sean Burke who got the valuables, opened Glover’s car and found some spares. Unfortunately his performance did not improve much once fully sighted!! 

However, once this was behind us the Colts turned in a pretty impressive performance. With half backs Tom Swainston and Tom Good providing good service to the wider players, only good defending from D-K preventing the break through. Eventually off second phase ball Goody spotted a half gap and burst through. As he approached the full back with two men outside him, he chose to beat him himself. Fortunately for him he managed this with a good step and turn of pace, otherwise the Dick of the Week award may have been his instead of Kyle’s. Dan Brittan converted for a 7 – 0 lead. Shortly after this a simple first phase move put Ryan Milton, running a cracking line, through the gap outside the centre to score. 12 – 0. 

Derby were winning plenty of ball but had kicked too much away and often badly. On one occasion Ryan’s poor kick was well fielded by the D-K full back who rounded the chaser easily and looked certain to score. However Ryan, realising he needed to make amends, put in a superb tackle at the corner flag to knock the ball out of his hands. As the half wore on Derby’s forwards started to impose themselves, with Ross Cawley-Nash, Sam Gourlay and Jordan Burke prominent, but still we were committing too many to the break down and not leaving runner options. 

The second half should have seen Derby dominate with a strong wind behind, and a good early kick from Dan Brittan got us straight into the D-K half, but from there on the game floundered for 20 minutes with too many stoppages and too many repeat scrummages (does the new scrummage law apply at U19 or not??). Jordan and Liam continued to win loads of line-out ball and the scrum was sound but the backs barely saw the ball for 20 minutes. D-K started to run much more strongly and we failed to bring the runner down quickly enough.  D-K should have scored but a good tackle from Sam Gourlay saw the balled spilled again.  Eventually Derby started to re-gather themselves and from an attacking scrum Scott Hudson drifted wide, Tom Good kicked a perfect cross-kick, Scott chased, got there and …. Dropped it! Bad luck Scott, it would have been a great try! Another great bit of inter-play involving around 10 backs and forwards nearly resulted in another try. Dan Brittan took a bang on the cheek and had to leave the pitch. D-K lent us a player – thank you, very sporting! Glover continued talking! 

With 10 minutes to go, more good handling saw the ball go to Ryan who scampered over for a second try, unconverted to make the score 17 – 0. A few minutes later Sam Gourlay capped an impressive performance full of strong running, tackling and good support play to burst through a would-be tackler and stretch over the line under the posts.  Tom Good converted with ease, well it cleared the bar by a few inches then! 

All in all, a long journey but an excellent playing surface, a good-tempered game with sporting opposition and well worthwhile. Particularly pleasing was the ‘nil’ against. We need to build on the wins of this and last week as we come to more NLD League matches next month.

What a way to start the New Year. A bare 15 players, including 2 just back from injury, a prop with one leg, a 10 who was playing his first game of the season for us and a flanker also starting for the first time who used to be a prop and now plays wing!!! Add in 6 or 7 injured or unavailable and the Serengeti resembling the Nile delta after a flood. Our hopes were not high. However a glance around the changing room showed there were players of quality in all positions and although the warm up was fairly low key there was an air of determination about the team. Needing to put December behind them and start the second half of the season with a bang. 

At 2.15 Derby stood ready to receive the ball. At 2.20 Derby were 5-0 up. From the kick off the forwards secured the ball Tom Swainston fed the backs who moved the ball upfield well supported by the forwards Derby maintained possession and pressure, eventually causing Melton to stray off-side on their 22. A quick tap, the first of many training ground moves to create time, space and yards created an opportunity for Ewan Jones on the left wing. From 10 metres out he brushed off the challenge of his opposite number and beat the covering defenders in a fine display of finishing. 

Derby Team with comments…Dan Walker, solid game, deserved his try. Liam Emmett, how many positions can this man play, took one against the head, not bad for a 2^nd row/winger/fullback etc. Adam Glover, awesome, and with only one leg. Jordan Burke, inspirational as ever. Luke Charnock, the unsung hero of the engine room, never stopped working. Ross Cawley-Nash excellent yardage and superb in defence and the loose. Dickie James, in his rightful position and never stopped playing, set up the 3^rd try. Sam Gourlay, gave Ross a run for his money, not bad for a prop!! Tom Swainston, vocal at last, great distribution. Tom Goode, we’ll forgive the dropped pass for everything else he brought to the game, led the line well. Kyle Perks, probably made more yards than anyone, took some great lines and tackled anything that came his way. Dan Brittan, excellent ball skills, set up Ewans tries, and all this with a broken rib!! Ewan Jones, like DB just back from a long lay off through injury but you wouldn’t know it, superb finishing and counter attacking. Scott Hudson, had limited opportunities ball in hand but showed superb commitment putting in tackles on his “wrong” wing and showed how good a flanker he could be. Clarke Hobson, great organising of the defence and always hit the line at pace on inventive angles. 

I’m not getting carried away and there is room for improvement but after Decembers performances this was a breath of fresh air and a welcome return to winning ways. 

There are no excuses, this was the worst performance of the season and the better team won. Over the course of the match Derby won only one of their own lineouts, they were too slow to the breakdown and turned the ball over far too often. 

As early as the second minute Richard Smiths pass was behind Kyle Perks, Mansfield seized the opportunity Derby had to concede a penalty to prevent the counter attack resulting in a try. The penalty kick was missed but the die was cast. The next 15 minutes was all Mansfield and eventually the pressure told, a good break in midfield with excellent handling in the backs saw Mansfield cross the whitewash in the right hand corner. The conversion was good. 7-0 Mansfield. 

This seemed to be the kick start Derby needed and we began to compete. Eventually working our way upfield we were awarded a 5 metre scrum, Bruce Pendrey picked from the base reset and although Tom Swainston went himself he was penalised for holding on less than a metre out. Mansfield cleared their lines and moved the ball back into Derby territory. Shortly afterwards the Mansfield No 8 picked at the base of the scrum, fed the 9 who timed his pass to the supporting player perfectly and he finished under the posts. 14- 0 Mansfield. 

The last 10 minutes of the half were fairly even but Derby's inability to win their own line out ball cost them a number of opportunities and only solid defence and some basic handling errors by Mansfield prevented them scoring. 

In the second half, without Simon Long who was exhausted following Saturday's run out with the Beeests, Derby started more brightly and  forced Mansfield into making too many errors and conceding penalties. 10 minutes in and Tom Swainston took a quick tap made 40 metres and fed Sanjay Sharma who finished expertly under the posts, with Scott Hudson on hand if needed. No kicking tee came on and Clarke Hobson fluffed the drop kick conversion. 

That was as good as it got. Derby tried to press but were still making too many unforced errors or wrong decisions. On 60 minutes a Derby hand was spotted in a ruck and Mansfield converted the penalty. Derby continued to try to force the game but Mansfield were solid in defence and countered well. With only 5 minutes to go we were penalised for a foot up in the scrum. We were  lazy in defence of the free kick, ultimately Mansfields No.4 crashed over and the resultant conversion sealed Derby's fate. 

It was the worst we have played all year and those involved know where and how to make basic improvements. It’s not all over yet but the fat lady is warming up and on this performance she might be playing before she’s singing. 

Yes you read it right NIL NIL! There have been some close contests over the years but NIL NIL! In the changing room we talked about the sort of game that we wanted to play and the need to maintain discipline, penalties against such a strong team would damage our chances. Kicking off with a very strong wind at our backs Derby proceeded to dominate much of the first half playing nearly the game we wanted, as much as a well drilled defence would allow. There were strong drives by the forwards, good play in the backs. When put under pressure solid defence and quick counter attacks meant the Derby try line was never threatened. Derby crossed the try line twice. A quick tap and go following a sin binning offence by Chesterfield ended with George Murfin being held up over the line and the moment was lost. Then we got a sin bin of our own as Adam Glover was penalised for a late tackle. Chesterfield managed to move the ball downfield but yet again solid defence and a great break by Scott Hudson ably supported by Simon Long took the ball deep into Chesterfield territory. Off the back of a 5 metre scrum Bruce Pendrey picked and went, unfortunately the referee saw a double movement and the try was disallowed. That was virtually the last play of the half. A half in which in the face of provocation, and some decisions which did not all go Derby's way I'm sorry to say we lost our discipline and this showed in the much higher penalty count against us. Enabling Chesterfield to clear their lines and have more of the ball than they deserved.

The second half started with Derby being marched back for something said to the referee, ironically it seems as if the comment was from a Chesterfield supporter, however, given Derby's track record in the first half the decision came as no surprise.

The second half continued in much the same vein, although Chesterfield had the wind at their backs and had more of the ball. There were only three things of note in the second half, James Robertson marked his Colts debut with a crunching tackle in midfield, the first of many, a chip off his older brothers block, Adam got a second yellow card for retaliation, and in the dying minutes a drop goal attempt from Dan Britt stalled in the wind and fell agonisingly short. Southwell here we come!

Derby were the better team on the day and should have capitalised on all their territory and possession. Still, at least we didn't lose. It should make for an interesting re-match in the New Year.

Derby Colts scored an emphatic win against Loughborough, as seemed likely even before the K.O. as Loughborough only had 14 players whereas Derby had 19. After 3 tries were scored by Derby within 12 minutes, a discussion amongst the coaches led to Derby lending Loughborough a player and rolling replacements being agreed. This resulted in a better match, but still Derby were far too strong for their opponents and only bits of greed, that often occur when the play becomes too one sided (and some pretty woeful goal-kicking), stopped Derby notching up even more points. 

Playing against the wind in the first half, Derby were still able to dominate territory with strong runs from the forwards, with Adam Glover, Simon Long and Bruce Pendrey prominent, and some decent running in the backs, where Sanjay Sharma was the pick of the bunch, but all handled well considering the slippery conditions. As mentioned there were times when the forwards over-did their drives, when quick ball out to the backs would have resulted in simple tries. Also players need to take the opportunity to look around for support in between beating one player and confronting the next, but in general their support play was good. 

In the second half, with the wind behind, there was little difference in the domination Derby maintained, as players were rotated to the bench and to be the 15^th Loughborough player. More tries followed, the pick of which involved an audacious dummy by hooker George Murfin. As we passed kicking duties around the team, it was clear that there were no latent Jonny Wilkinson's waiting in the wings! The frequent changes probably did not help Derby maintain a level of consistency, but at least all players got at least 40 minutes of rugby. Also pleasing to see was a minor skirmish at the final whistle being well dealt with by the 2 captains and the referee.  

Final score was 8 tries and 1 conversion to 0, with tries scored by Adam Glover, Sam Hobbs, Alex Tizard, Clark Hobson, Matt Cornfield, George Murfin, Simon Long and Michael Robertson  (I think – no doubt somebody will tell me if I’ve got it wrong). Just checked the National Colts Cup website and it looks like we’ll be playing either Hinckley or Peterborough in the next round, at home, date to be confirmed (possibly 9^th or 23^rd Dec). Bring ‘em on.

A win against a team whose name is hard to pronounce and representing just a small area of Leicester may not sound much, but the opposition today were pretty accomplished having only lost to the Colts sides of National League Clubs Rugby and Nuneaton previously this season. Their ground is where Leicester Tigers train and clearly there are links in place.  For the first time in a number of weeks Derby had a few replacements and all 18 players played at least 40 minutes of rugby. Playing into a strong wind Derby played exactly the right game with some strong runs around the fringes and through midfield. Not only that, the support play was spot on with well supported breaks resulting in a succession of plays where 50 – 60 metres were covered. Adam Glover, Simon Long, Sam Hobbs and new boy Bruce Pendray were all prominent in this respect. The backs were also looking well balanced with the centre pairing of Kyle Perks and Sanjay Sharma solid in defence and both making good ground with runs. Alex Tizard made several good breaks, Tom Swainston was providing a good link to the backs and Clark Hobson looked in control and provided good pace at full back. George Murfin took several strikes against the head and Derby were getting plenty of ball to play with. 

The first Derby try came after around 10 minutes when Simon Long broke off the side of a 5 metre scrum and through the tackle with a hint of… lets call it one and a half movements!! Shortly afterwards a simple switch in the backs on the Oadby 22 saw Kyle Perks break several tackles and score under the posts, converted by Clark Hobson. As Oadby used the wind to gain territory, Derby defended well and frequently achieved a turnover and then made good yardage upfield with interplay between the forwards and scrum half Alex Tizard. On a couple of occasions a likely try was missed as the ref saw a forward pass, once to Alex Tizard once to Scott Hudson. 

Half time came with the score 12 – 0 and probably the best 35 minute Derby performance of the season. In the second half we struggled to change the style of play to make best use of the wind and Oadby clearly had decided to shore up their defence. They also drove well and with the bigger set of forwards it took good defending from Derby to keep them out from a number of ‘catch and drives’ from line outs. Oadby kicked a penalty (one of about 20 awarded to them versus about 5 to us – hmmm, we were not that illegal) but Derby defended well but seemed to have lost the ability to break through. Simmo spent ten minutes in the bin (another harsh decision) but the lads kept Oadby penned in their half very well during this time. Back to a full complement, the ball was moved wide to the flying Welshman Ewan Jones who brushed off one defender but was well tackled by the next and had his hand trodden on in the process. Unfortunately a later trip to the DRI has shown a couple of breaks and a few weeks off will be required. 

As darkness came, the match drew to a close and a good win for the Derby lads. We have a few injuries at the moment, but others due back soon and competition for places will hot up. Better make sure you are at training to get the nod for selection!! Next week sees the first home game for the Colts since October 14^th (5 away trips on the trot) against Loughborough in the National Colts Plate (having lost in the Cup competition). Loughborough have also made it into the NLD Cup last 8, so a close contest is likely. Colts record is now 7 wins, 4 defeats.

After last week’s debacle when no referee turned up at Melton Mowbray, Derby were keen to get back into action and arrived at Sutton Coldfield with 16 players (still not many, but enough). Sutton seemed keen to disrupt us before kick off too, with a dispute with the referee over kick off time, playing on the bare training pitch with the main pitch dry and in good condition, and not bothering to get post protectors out. After we had done that for them, battle commenced and Derby’s forwards soon showed good power in the maul. Playing up the hill and into the wind, close driving was called for and Derby were very effective with the usual gang of Simmo, Glover and George joined this week by Callum Martin, who drove over the line for a try after about 10 minutes. Some sloppy defence allowed Sutton Coldfield to score under the posts and take the lead 7 – 5, but Derby forced their way upfield and from a maul Simmo took the ball at pace and brushed aside a feeble tackle to score in the corner. 

Derby seemed to forget where their strength was and started to throw hopeful long passes which inevitably did not find their target. Also they kicked too often and badly and Sutton Coldfield countered effectively and, against the run of play, scored 2 tries from a charged down kick and from some neat handling in the backs. After dominating most of the half, Derby went in to half-time unbelievably 10 – 17 down, but with the elements behind them were confident they could turn it round. 

A good start to the half resulted in 3 tries in 10 minutes. First a strong run from Kyle Perks took him past several defenders and up popped Simmo as he was tackled to take the pass and score. Then a fine run from the hard-working Sam Hobbs took him over the line. Knowing the strength of our kicking he took it under the posts and, with Dan Brittan hobbling, Clark Hobson nonchalantly converted, clearing the bar by at least a millimetre! The third was scored by birthday boy Ewan Jones with a typical strong run following some good work by backs and forwards to make the score 27 - 17. 

Yours truly asked that we didn’t take the foot off the gas and we should be looking at notching up 50, but unfortunately a bit of over-confidence did creep in. We weren’t helped by injuries to centre Kyle Perks, down to 15, then to the other centre, Dan Brittan, down to 14 again. Sutton Coldfield seemed to gain in confidence and scored a try under the posts to make it 24 – 27. Derby’s handling was still not good and a wayward pass was followed by a non-committal attempt to recover the loose ball and Sutton Coldfield kicked ahead, picked up and scored another converted try. Unbelievably we were 31 – 27 down with 10 minutes to go! Instructed to keep the ball, the forwards made ground but Sutton Coldfield were able to defend as we became slightly predictable. Alex Tizard made some good breaks, George Murfin should have gone for the corner but didn’t trust his pace, Sam Hobbs made more good yardage and eventually our hero Adam Glover took a crash ball and made it over the line under the posts with about 5 Sutton Coldfield players hanging on to him. Clark, he’ll admit he was not having his best game ever, took too long a run up and it was charged down, but we were 32 – 31 ahead and hung on for the final whistle. 

Maybe the celebrations of many of the players for the 2 birthday boys the previous night had something to do with the lacklustre display at times, plus a number of missing players, but with the NLD League matches looming in December and the new year, we need to step up the performance several notches from this one. 

Remember there is extra forwards training this Tuesday; please make sure all are there at the right time. However, to be honest, it should be extra backs training that is taking place this week.

The day started hopefully with a full squad and, horrors, even some replacements. That was as good as it got. One by one people cried off. Scott was in Nottingham, the coaches unaware he had to work, even though he told us on Thursday. Fortunately he finished early and Dan Wades mum waited to bring him over. Unfortunately my careful instructions weren't interpreted properly and Chris missed Jn24a, mistaking the M42 for the A6. At least they eventually got there with Dan and Scott strolling onto the pitch at 2.28 for 2 minutes warm up!! Ewan forgot his boots and gumshield (earning him DOTW). Thank you Nigel Burdge for running touch in Kyles noncy trainers (see photo) so Ewan could play. Eventually 15 Derby players were ready including 2 debutants Bruce Pendray and Dan Milner. Although we didn't have a full front row.

Derby travelled to Leicester for the 2^nd week running, this time with only 14 players due to various unavailabilities and a late withdrawal at 12.30. Still the 14 lads acquitted themselves very well against a reasonably strong side (who had 4 replacements but, despite a request being made, did not offer one to Derby). Derby re-organised their side with lanky full-back Liam Emmett transforming himself into a second row and line-out specialist alongside debutant  Luke Charnock and had to play without a number eight. Derby were able to win a good percentage of possession despite being a man short with Liam and Sam Hobbs winning plenty of line out ball and George Murfin ably assisted by Dan Walker and Adam Glover made sure of scrummage ball and even stole some from the opposition. Simon Long and Sam Hobbs worked hard in the loose and Alex Tizard and Clark Hobson prompted the backs well with Kyle Perks making good ground on the crash, Dan Brittan launching some good touch kicks and the back three of Scott Hudson, Ewan Jones and Sanjay Sharma also had some good runs, but South Leicester tackled well and had some incisive backs of their own. In particular the full back counter attacked very well and only some great cover defence by Ewan Jones stopped a certain try after 20 minutes. 

Derby made a few handling errors and sometimes over-complicated, but were contesting well in all areas of the pitch. Eventually South Leicester scored after a period of pressure and the half-time score was 0 - 7. The half-time talk encouraged the lads to believe that they could win this game and to try to get the ball away from where South Leicester had the extra man. The South Leicester 10 had a good boot and pushed their team up into the Derby corner. Derby were penalised from the line-out and from the penalty South Leicester scored again, but were still not looking like they would pull away from Derby. Moments later, Derby were in real trouble with George Murfin being sin-binned (dissent I think – remember what I’ve said about discipline), but from a line out near their own line, Liam took the South Leicester ball, the forwards made ground and the ball was moved out to the hard-running Ewan Jones, who this time stepped inside his man then sped away down the wing for a great individual try, which Dan Brittan converted.  

Derby were really looking hungry for more scores now, and the South Leicester fans could see that Derby were looking stronger. Back came George, the forwards made more ground and we got into the South Leicester 22. From a scrum, Clark Hobson went blind and fed a well timed pass for birthday boy Scott Hudson to round his man in limited space and go over in the corner. 12 – 12. Dan hit a good kick, but just missed. With around 3 minutes left we needed to be on our guard, but a penalty was conceded, kicked for the corner. The ref blew up for another infringement at the line-out and then South Leicester fed a quick ball to their flanker who took advantage of a momentary lapse in concentration to brush of a would-be tackler and score near the posts, conversion, full-time, sickening! 

As JT said, no DOTW or man of the match this week, just a great effort from 14 players that deserved a better result than this. Next week another trip into Leicestershire, to Melton Mowbray along with the first XV. A chance for a bit of 1^st team / Colts bonding perhaps?!? Before then though, a well attending training session on Thursday night please.

Missing skipper Simon Long (sprained ankle – jumping off a haystack) and vice-skip Kyle Perks (sprained ankle – bumpy training pitch), Tom Swainston (replacement for the 2nds) and a few others unavailable for various reasons, Derby Colts took a bare 15 players to Leicester, including debutant U17 Martin Harrison. At least this meant all players got a full game and thankfully we suffered no serious injuries. Stand-in skipper Alex Tizard marshalled the troops well (including some timely après-match cries of ‘soldiers’ to keep them on their toes). Also making his debut was Clarke Hobson, recent acquisition along with Sam Hobbs from Nottingham, both fed up with gathering splinters from the bench. No chance of spending time on the bench in this match! 

Derby started strongly and spent much of the first 15 minutes in the Aylestone territory, but were tending to get in each others way around the fringes, with no depth from runners and kicking too much in the backs. Eventually simple handling from a tapped penalty allowed Dan Brittan to score wide on the left and Scott Hudson to power through for a try on the right, neither being converted. Dan Brittan then added a penalty before Ewan Jones scored a try with a trade-mark bulldozing run. Aylestone were losing their discipline, but Derby kept theirs and continued to dominate proceedings without being able to score further tries. 

Derby started the second half in a similar manner to the first, but were still not really playing well as a team with players too easily isolated. Ross Cawley-Nash was again outstanding in his tackling and overall work rate, Harvey Toolan was dominant in the line-out (pinching plenty of opposition ball too) and Adam Glover was his usual prominent self in the loose. “Walkin’ George Murfin” was walking even more than usual as he was shaking off a mid-week ailment, whilst Dan Wade, Steve Smart, Sam Hobbs and Martin Harrison all got stuck in with the dirty work. The backs started to move the ball a little more freely and midway through the half scored a superb try. Clarke Hobson, starting to get used to his team-mates, executed a perfect ‘wrangy’ with Dan Brittan, who raced through the gap. Unlike several other occasions this year when centres have broken through, this time Dan drew the full-back and timed the pass to the galloping Ewan Jones to score his second try under the post, converted by Brittan. 

Aylestone looked dangerous towards the end when a missed touch kick was returned by their speedy back three, but Derby’s defence was good to hold them out. Overall a reasonable performance, but a game we really could have won by 50 points. Next week’s game away to South Leicester is likely to be much tougher, with our hosts inflicting a 30 point defeat on last year’s Colts in a National Colts Plate match.

Derby took on a game against opposition not normally encountered and a good match it was too. Kenilworth had asked that it should be treated as an U18 match, so we despatched Simmo to the Devs for punishment against Ilkeston 2nds, leaving only Alex Tizard as a genuine U19. With a few others unavailable for various reasons, Derby had an un-familiar look and limited numbers, but had enough to allow a well contested game.  Derby were out of the blocks quickly for a change putting pressure on Kenilworth, but their defence was strong. Derby probably had the better of the early exchanges, but Kenilworth were contesting well and holding Derby at bay. 

The highlight of the early exchanges was when ‘new boy’ Sam Hobbs touched down confidently over – wait for it -  his own 5 metre line (rather than the try-line). Fortunately he recovered in time to clear the area. Derby pressed but were unable to turn pressure into points until a training ground move, the ‘hook’, allowed Ewan Jones to burst through and score near the posts for a try converted by Dan Brittan. The game continued to be evenly contested, with Derby having probably the better of the territory until 30 minute had passed when Tom Swainston stretched  the defence with a ‘miss’ move and Dan Brittan sold a dummy and went into the corner. He followed this with an excellent conversion. 

Derby continued to dominate, with Adam Glover making good ground and Ross Cawley-Nash covering every yard of the pitch and tackling as if his next meal was dependent upon it.  George Murfin pinched a few scrums and Tim Buller had his best game of the season (so far) with some great support play. Alex Tizard then found himself in space with a loose ball and expertly kicked ahead for 60 metres until he fell on the ball across the line (followed by a fine try celebration pose!). Another good conversion by Dan meant the half time score was 21 – 0. 

Derby started the 2^nd half strongly with a trade mark try from Adam Glover, bursting away from a loose maul (once again converted by  ‘4 from 4’ Dan Brittan) to make the score 28 – 0 after 45 minutes. Maybe the guys relaxed, or maybe Kenilworth got their just deserts from their efforts.  Derby failed to impose themselves for the last 25 minutes. First Kenilworth scored from a well worked line out move, and with just 10 minutes left, a series of Kenilworth drives resulted in men over out wide and they scored a well executed try on the left. In between, George Murfin tried his best  to make Sam feel better by ‘scoring’ a try over the 5 metre line (surely these were more note-worthy offences than the slight misdemeanour made by yours truly in winning the ‘D*** of the week’ award!!) and under 17 Stefan Greenhalgh came close on a couple of occasions on the right hand side. 

All in all, a good game in which to re-gather confidence after the defeat against arch-rivals Paviors, and a significantly better performance in the backs. The half backs controlled the game well, we had more chance to vary our attacks between close and wide, and Kyle Perks’ tackling was outstanding. A bit of laziness was possibly the cause of the 2 tries by Kenilworth in the last quarter, and we cannot afford to allow that to happen too often. Thanks to Kenilworth for coming to play us at short notice – we’ll see if we can come back to you later in the season. Now we need to move on, get used to new formations and personnel and be prepared to take on bigger opposition in the coming weeks.

Old rivalries were renewed in the game that would decide who ended top of the preliminary leagues, although both sides were guaranteed a place in the main Cup competition later in the season. A keenly contested match took place with both sets of forwards strong in defence, Derby probably edging the forward battle overall. Unfortunately, this was a day when the backs forgot to turn up! A combination of bad passing, poor catching, bad decision making, poor tackling, poor kicking from hand, bad communication and indecision (too name but seven problem areas) resulted in little ground being made and forcing Derby to overdo the attack through the forwards (where Pavior’s defence was strong). In contrast, Paviors backs scored 3 tries and looked incisive with the limited possession they got. 

Derby opened the scoring with a penalty from the reliable boot of Dan Brittan. Derby’s forwards took play to Paviors with Harry Elliott, Simon Long, Adam Glover, George Murfin particularly enjoying the physicality. Harvey Toolan was as industrious as ever, winning his own line-outs and stealing a few from Paviors, and Ross Cawley-Nash  tackled above his weight all day. Paviors scored a good try with some slick handling, then another as they showed Derby how to string a set of passes together, then added a penalty to lead 13 – 3 at the break. 

Strong words were said at the interval and Derby started superbly with a good K.O., the catcher pressurised, the ball won, a couple of phases and over went Simon Long from close range. Dan’s trusty boot added the nudge and it was 13 – 10 with all to play for. With replacements to get on, Derby rang the changes, including positional ones in the backs to try to overcome the problems. Some improvement seemed to occur, but still mistakes were made. Alex Tizard bossed the forwards and distributed well enough and Sanjay Sharma looked dangerous with the limited ball he got, but a simple missed tackle allowed Paviors to add a 3^rd try. Fortunately they kicked conversions like Derby Colts last year and the score went to 18 – 10. 

Derby pushed back upfield, George Murfin ‘scored’ but it was disallowed for a double movement, Dan knocked over a classy drop goal to bring us within one score, but Derby were not able to get  the last try they needed.

With Mansfield unable to raise a front row (surely that’s not possible for a team from Mansfield – 15 front row players is the norm) a game with Burton was arranged instead, and a fine contest it turned out to be, even if it was short of a bit of quality at times. Derby got off to their normal poor start and Burton had scored a good try following two phases of play via some weak (I think namby-pamby was the word I used at the time) tackling. Things did not improve greatly as some more ‘traffic directing’ defence allowed the Burton centre to break through. Derby then started to get things together with some strong forward play, but too often when runners off the base were needed all that was available was static players to confuse the passer. The backs were mis-firing with poor passing and catching and things went from bad to worse when yet another unnecessary offload in the tackle was picked up by a Burton player close to his line, the ball went through 3 pairs of hands and a score resulted to make it  0 – 19. Was there a thrashing on the cards? Don’t think so! 

Not sure what made the difference, but it became clear that Derby were stronger in the driving maul and frequently made ground. From close range tries came from Simon Long and Adam Glover with one converted by Dan Brittan and at half time we were back in it at 12 – 19. 

Playing against a slight wind in the second half, more of the same closer forward driving was called for and so it happened. Missing both regular 2^nd rows, the line outs were never likely to be Derby’s strong point, but Dan Wade and Ross Cawley-Nash won a decent amount of ball, the scrum was solid and as usual the rucking and mauling was good. Tim Buller showed he is starting to get up to match fitness after missing all the pre-season and George Murfin was his usual strong presence in the loose. Tom Swainson distributed well, but still the back-line was stuttering. Positional changes in the backs were made and some improvement was seen, with Sanjay Sharma having some good runs and Dan Brittan making some good half breaks. Anyway, who needs the backs to be on song as Simmo scored again from close range and then the ball did get to the wing and Scott Hudson showed good technique to stretch over for a try. Neither try was converted, but Derby were now 22 – 19 ahead with about 12 minutes to go. 

In that final period Derby, played some excellent support rugby – one bit of forwards and backs interplay took us from near our own line to beyond half way, but unfortunately Burton deflected the last offload. But Burton were not finished and, awarded a kickable penalty (harder than many Derby had not taken) took the 3 points to level the score. To be honest a draw would have been a fair reflection of the game, but one final indiscretion (a late tackle after a kick which went directly into touch, i.e. represented no harm) led to another penalty award, another 3 points and painful defeat. 

Defeats are never a bad thing if you learn from your mistakes. In this case, 2 yellow cards for Derby players meant we played more than ¼ of the match one short. Once again, tackling was too often poor and, whilst the forward play was excellent in general, we need to have all players not involved in winning the ball looking to run forward onto a pass or get out of the way.

Derby Colts returned to winning ways in emphatic style against West Bridgford, but few would have predicted such a big winning margin at the end of the first half, in which West Bridgford had had the lion’s share of possession and territory. Indeed only dogged defence by Derby kept West Bridgford out after a series of line-out catch and drives on the Derby 5 metre line, and Alex Tizard and Ross Cawley-Nash both did well individually to stop certain tries. 

Derby got off to a good start when the ball was moved wide to Ewan Jones who executed a perfect ‘Maori side-step’ and hand-off against two players before powering over the line. West Bridgford were looking lively in the backs as well as through their bigger forwards and Derby’s defence got sucked in to allow West Bridgford to score in the corner to make it 5 – 5. Still only winning limited possession, Derby were most effective through their strong runners and when Kyle Perks burst through the initial defence a try looked certain. Maybe he should have drawn the full-back and released his support, but Kyle went for it himself, was just caught, but still managed to offload the Ewan Jones for his second try. 

The last 15 minutes of the half was all West Bridgford and all Derby players should be pleased with their defence to keep them out. Possibly slightly demoralised by their failure to score in that period, West Bridgford seemed to have lost the momentum after the break and Derby quickly added tries through a strong run from Sanjay Sharma and good support play by Tim Buller following a forward drive. Then came two superb tries from 2^nd row Jordan Burke, on both occasions sprinting in from 40 metres or so. Great gas Jordan and a great work rate throughout the game. With Dan Brittan having a slightly off day with his goal kicks (I thought I was watching last year’s Colts again) Jordan even took one conversion and nonchalantly toe-poked it over! Derby’s forwards started to impose themselves, with Adam Glover making some strong runs and Harvey Toolan doing his best to match Jordan for mobility. Alex Tizard enjoyed his best game at scrum half for the colts and is growing in confidence all the time.  

Derby’s last try was scored by Dan Walker, also benefiting from a good driving maul, but credit to West Bridgford who never gave up and scored a try through some slack Derby tackling near the end. 

This win will be enough to guarantee Derby a place in the NLD Cup competition later in the season, but whether they win this preliminary league or not will be decided by a game against old NLD rivals Paviors at Derby in 2 weeks time. Paviors beat West Bridgford by 22 – 0, so a close game looks likely.

Derby got off to a dreadful start in this National Colts Cup game conceding 15 points in as many minutes with some poor defence. Gradually they started to get into the game and following a drive from Simon Long from a penalty, Dickie James was on hand to pick up and score. Kettering added another try and Derby a penalty through Dan Brittan to leave the half time score 8 – 20.  

The game continued to be a little scrappy and the referee chose to go to uncontested scrums after one collapsed. This suited neither side, but Derby were starting to build confidence. With 8 minutes to go Adam Glover charged over from close range. Some silliness from Kettering as he got up resulted in a small display of fine leather handbags, which the referee interpreted as something far more threatening and abandoned the game without even allowing the conversion. This was both unfair to Derby, depriving them of a chance of winning the game, and an unnecessary decision impacting both clubs, given that no previous general warning was given. However, the result stands – good luck to Kettering in the next round. Derby will play in the plate competition in December.