Depleted Ashbourne lose a fifth on the trot
DEPLETED by injuries and unavailability, Ashbourne went down to their fifth straight defeat when they were beaten 38-15 away to Loughborough in Counties One Midlands East (North).
The flying start to the season, when they won their first three matches, seems a long time back now but, realistically, Ashbourne faced three teams they would expect to beat in those early games.
The reorganisation of the divisions has brought some strong sides to Ashbourne’s division, with Hinckley seconds starting to open up a gap at the top, as director of rugby Martin Farr predicted they would a few weeks ago.
For Ashbourne, it remains about looking at the bigger picture as they continue to develop a healthy stream of young players.
“Obviously, we are disappointed with the result but we are playing a lot of younger players at the moment and giving them valuable experience,” said club chairman Martin Fryer.
“It’s partly to do with continuity of selection and that’s difficult when you have a series of injuries and unavailabilities.
“Martin Farr worked out, I think, that we had used 35 players in the first team by the time we had played six matches – that would have been unheard of at one time.
“Ten years ago, we’d probably have used about 20 in the same number of games.
“But our priority is developing young players and getting everyone a game and when you see 200 youngsters at training on a Sunday morning, you know things are pretty good.”
John Ford and Bertie Linnell scored tries in the Loughborough defeat, Jonny Cantellow adding a penalty and Ollie Ruddock a conversion.
An even younger Ashbourne seconds side, with seven colts starting and the majority of the players 18 or under, went down 39-12 at home to Matlock.
Lewis Frith and Stuart Bailey went over for tries for them, Frith converting one.