Keyworth 2nds have a ripping time at Ripley Rhinos in a 6 try rampage.

It took a long time to break the resistance of a dogged Ripley side and although Keyworth crossed the line twice in the first quarter, neither occasion satisfied the home official, sufficiently. However, on 28 minutes, Jason Holland took a quick tapped penalty close the home line before putting tight-head prop, Wayne Jowett in space and he barged his way through a wall of defenders to register the initial score and set the visitors on their way. Sam Tilaks kicked the extra points.

Five minutes later, Wayne was at it again but this time, unbelievably, in his charge to the line he managed to pull his hamstring (we didn’t even know he had one!) just a metre out. The ball came back, sweet as a nut and scrum half Sam Tilaks picked it up and jinked his way past the waiting defenders to grab a ‘poacher’s’ try, which he duly converted.

Keyworth’s third try of the half came from full-back Aaron Browning, up in support of young Jack Pitchfork who made a bullocking run of around 25m before feeding Aaron, who beat the last couple of Ripley players to score. An excellent end to a first half, playing up a slope that resembled the yet unconquered south face of Everest. Captain Keith Scott exhorted his troops not to relax in the second half, even with the advantage of the slope and to maintain their discipline in the face of any provocation.

The second half began as the first had ended and after 6 minutes, debutant Josh Mullins, playing at inside centre cut a lovely supporting line to race in from about 30m out. This put Keyworth Seconds comfortably 24 points ahead and as often happens, the other team came storming right back. A combination of Keyworth taking their foot of the gas, being penalised frequently and a renewed effort, with some strengthened line-ups from the Rhinos saw Ripley reply with two tries of their own. One of which was an early Christmas present, courtesy of fly-half, Jason Holland, who threw a beautifully weighted cut out pass straight into the waiting arms of Ripley’s stand out player, their outside centre, who raced gleefully to the line from 40m out.

Aaron Browning then extended the lead as Keyworth attacked down the left flank, finishing of a good run from Alex Tsang, on 67 minutes. Sam Tilaks slotted the conversion. A minute or two later and it was almost déjà vu as Alex Tsang crossed himself to record his sixth try in seven games, after another barnstorming run to outstrip the beleaguered defence.

Last word went to Ripley when their No. 8 blasted over from close range near the posts to bring the final score to 38 – 17 in favour of Keyworth 2nd XV. A hard fought battle and credit must go to the Rhinos for their part in this game. In particular, their judicious substitutions to enable cooling off opportunities ensured that the game was not able to spill into anything more than the rigorous test it should always be.

Man of the Match for Keyworth was adjudged to be scrum half Sam Tilaks, whose kicking from hand, from tee and at restarts was first class. Allied to a well-taken try, good service and ever improving decision-making made him the obvious choice. That said, there were others who pushed him close. The try scoring machine known as Tsangy, to name but one.

Special mention must go to a number of others: Mark Scott, with a knee the size of a basketball, played out of position in the front row and did a sterling job, having sacrificed work to play for the side. A noble effort, replicated by his father John also re-arranging his work schedule in order to once again, be imperious at the front of the line. The ever-present and flexible James Maddock, hooked superbly and worked hard at the breakdown and in defence. Jon Cooper was another prepared to slot into any position his skipper required of him and performed them all with great aplomb.

Seventeen year olds, Connor Sealy and Doug Martin continue to develop and learn with every game. Josh Mullins made a very impressive first appearance both in attack and defence and will definitely be an asset to the side. Tom Martin, got a good amount of game time as a consequence of an ankle injury to the very committed Zander Wiles and Tom used it to good effect whenever he got possession. Jack Starr, although not at his very best, had some great runs in the first half and is starting to look for work off the side of the breakdown.

It was a pleasure to see the return of the evergreen Darryl Jones who set a record, on a day when Keyworth players seemed to get penalised for almost anything, Darryl was not caught offside even once. A remarkable feat that has never previously taken place! Furthermore, the Keyworth side maintained excellent discipline when the decisions against them continued to mount and it will be good to see this continuous improvement in future weeks.

Training this week will be at NTU Clifton site in the High Performance Centre with Sport 981 at 6.45pm. This specialist training certainly appears to paying dividends for the club and is extremely enjoyable.

Next Saturday the seconds travel to Ashfield where they will need to be at their very best to continue this good start to the league season. Captain Keith Scott and his Team Manager are delighted at the spirit in the side and the way in which they are enjoying their rugby this season. There’s no doubt that a number of the youngsters will be finding their way into the 1st XV ranks before the season’s out.