Derby win their battles to earn an away victory
DERBY resisted the superior forward power of home side Belgrave to take a 26-12 victory from a scrappy Midlands One East contest.
Skipper Andy Brown scored one of four Derby tries in his first outing of the season following injury as they secured a bonus point from a bruising encounter.
They came up against a much bigger pack ready and able to use their weight advantage, opting several times for a scrum rather than a penalty.
However, the Belgrave backs failed to use the possession to good effect, largely due to the speed of Derby’s backs getting up and tackling them before the gain line was reached.
Derby’s keenness to pass the ball quickly did lead to some unforced errors but Belgrave failed to capitalise on them.
Josh Bingham also returned from injury, with Tom Bigland and Callum Jones brought into the starting line-up. Josh McCallion moved to the wing and Josh Harvey made his debut among the substitutes after Jack Waggott called in ill.
However, Derby were forced into a change after 20 minutes, with Harry Bigland replacing his brother Tom.
Harry Bigland did not see out the game because of a hamstring injury. James Godfrey replaced him, with Sam Tebbs moving to the wing and Sam Pitman to number eight.
After a scoreless first half-hour, a strong tackle caused the Belgrave fly half to spill the ball and the away side capitalised. The loose ball was quickly passed to Brown and he raced through for a try, converted by Bingham.
Four minutes later, Tebbs secured the ball at a lineout close to the Belgrave line and, in the driving maul, Jones went over for his first try, which went unconverted.
Tebbs was then shown a yellow card for offside but Derby held on to their 12-point lead until the interval.
Mike Johns replaced Jeri Oldfield at prop for the start of the second half and, four minutes after the restart, Belgrave did exploit their one-man advantage, second row Luke Gutteridge touching down after a driving maul for a try converted by full back Kevin Curtis.
This was quickly followed by another forward drive from which winger Mark De Ville went over in the corner for an unconverted try to level the scores.
Belgrave continued to mount great forward pressure on the Derby line but fierce defending and quick reaction kept them out.
From a quickly-hooked scrum ball, Jake Roome broke a tackle to send Jones racing over for his second try and Bingham added the conversion to put Derby ahead again.
Slick passing in the 22-metre area created space for Paul Burke to made a break. He was tackled but McCallion picked up and sprinted 30 metres for Derby’s bonus point try, converted by Josh Bingham.
A total of 19 penalties – 13 for Belgrave and six for Derby – illustrated the stop-start nature of the game but it was a series of small battles won by Derby and the effectiveness of double hit tackles that brought the win.
Derby will be at home to West Bridgford, who field another powerful pack, next Saturday at Haslams Lane.