Home frustration as Derby pay the penalty in defeat
IT WAS one that got away as far as Derby head coach Mark Bradley was concerned after seeing his side fall to a 25-22 home defeat against West Bridgford in Midlands One East.
Ill-discipline in the first half and then failures in the line-out after the break were Derby’s undoing, although they at least picked up two bonus points.
The home side could have salvaged a draw in the closing stages but were unable to convert two late penalties.
“If you give too many penalties away you are always going to struggle to keep it at the right end of the park,” said Bradley.
“We gave too many penalties away and kept letting them out when we were in a good position. I think in the first 10 minutes, especially, we gave nine penalties away.
“Then if you don’t hit your lineouts like we struggled to in the second half for some reason, we couldn’t hit anything, that doesn’t help either.
“It’s one we probably should have won.”
Josh Tizard failed a fitness test on Saturday morning with a back problem, so Derby were forced into late changes, with Jake Roome moving to scrum-half and Callum Slater starting in the centre.
In rainy conditions, which made handling difficult, West Bridgford opened the scoring with a penalty after five minutes.
Derby responded well and were pressing West Bridgford before losing the ball. The visitors swooped and ran the length of the pitch to score a converted try for a 10-0 lead.
Another penalty stretched the lead to 13-0 before West Bridgford had a player sent to the sin bin and Derby made the extra man count. A penalty was tapped and spread wide, allowing Lewis Hancock to touch down for an unconverted try.
Three minutes before the break, Derby went over again for their second try. A five metre scrum was won, the ball was again sent wide and Hancock touched down once more, although the extras were off target and West Bridgford led 13-10 at halftime.
West Bridgford started the second half well and while Derby had a number of chances to clear, their line-out let them down.
The visitors took advantage, scoring two tries, one converted, for a 15-point advantage.
But Derby responded superbly, scoring two tries in three minutes.
They put some good phases together before Sam Pittman scored in the corner in the 60th minute.
Roome then showed great awareness, picking the ball up at the base of a ruck, spotting a gap and diving over. Hancock converted and the gap was down to three points.
However, that was as good as it got for Derby as they missed two late penalties.
“We missed the penalties but those things happen, we could have won the game before then really,” Bradley added.
“We shouldn’t have had to rely on the penalties at the end.
“The game should have been taken care of before then.
“We did score two quick tries in the second half which showed what we are capable of. The effort of the players and the continuity is brilliant but we have got to put games like these to bed.”