LATE RALLY NOT ENOUGH TO STOP DEFEAT AT DERBY

Thanks to more cry-offs than an episode of Strictly Come Baby, Keyworth had to rely on the generosity of their hosts, who provided the Keyworth side with 3 players as rolling subs. Two of these guys actually stayed on when the Keyworth players they replaced failed to return to the pitch due to their injuries.

It took Derby just 8 minutes to open the scoring and they proceeded to cross the Keyworth line on 4 further occasions during a dreadful first half for the visitors. All of these tries were converted and Derby had a very large 35 – 0 lead at the half. How did the home side do this against a team that has played really well all season?

Several reasons: They wanted it more, they showed more commitment to winning the ball, turning over good Keyworth possession on a number of occasions by driving through in numbers at the breakdown. Fantastic kicking by their out-half, using the strong wind to pin Keyworth deep in their own half for long periods. In return, Keyworth’s kicking game was so bad it caused more problems than relief. This allied to poor decision making in key areas of the field, countless knock-ons, inaccurate and forward passes and insufficient numbers getting around the pitch to the breakdowns were all contributory factors to the interval deficit.

In mitigation, Keyworth did try to play rugby whenever they got the ball, which was reasonably often, given that they were guaranteed a supply of ball from scrums as these were uncontested due to the visitors only having one front row player in their ranks. However, their success with the ball was limited due to all of the factors mentioned earlier and their incursions into home territory could be counted on one hand.

Keyworth needed to be the first to score in the second half if there was to be any way back. Unfortunately this wasn’t to be the case as Derby again pressed, extending their lead to 42 points after a catch and drive at a 5m lineout, just 5 minutes into the second period. They continued to exert pressure on the Keyworth line and when their 20+ stone, man-mountain drove over a further score looked inevitable. Unbelievably, Keyworth players managed to get underneath him and prevented the grounding, much to the delight of the visitors and the derision of his teammates.

Buoyed by this Keyworth launched a number of attacks and one of these resulted in their first score of the game after 55 minutes when the guesting Derby centre crossed for Keyworth wide out, partly thanks to the generosity of the official who chose to ignore certain infringements. Sam Tilaks added a glorious conversion to get Keyworth up and running.

However the very strong home team came right back to score a further 7 points and push their score close to the half-century. The remainder of the game was all Keyworth as they continued to run every single piece of possession they had, which resulted in 3 excellent tries all from flowing movements started from deep in their own half and involving great interplay between forwards and backs. The first of these was scored by full back Aaron Browning who had another superb day running the ball out of defence. Sam Tilaks added the extra 2 points.

The all-covering Luke Benson, who tackled everything that moved, got the next try finishing off a move started by Sam Tilaks in his own 22 and the final try came from Jack Starr, a good solo effort from 25m out, breaking 3 tackles before crossing under the sticks for Mark King to notch the conversion.

A great late rally by a Keyworth team that never said die, although it was much too little and way too late. The game was played in great spirit and Derby were magnanimous in their provision of players to the Keyworth cause and in their praise for the effort displayed by the visitors to the end. Derby fully deserved their victory, a strong side from the Pennant League above, they gained revenge for their earlier defeat at Widmerpool, which had been another cracking, high scoring encounter between two sides committed to open running rugby.

Man of the Match for Keyworth was undoubtedly Tom Martin, who played much of the game in the forwards for the first time and he showed up brilliantly, putting in some crunching hits and running hard when in possession. He does need to work on his fitness though as he needed to refuel on a couple of occasions.

Injuries to Tom Holmes and Lee Broadhead did little to help Keyworth’s cause but certainly wouldn’t have affected the overall result. Jack Starr also took a clattering early on and was far from his usual self, which meant the lineout struggled to secure its regular supply of possession. Felix refused to allow jetlag of any kind to impair his performance and he showed up well in the loose. Captain Scott turned in one his best performances of the season, making great efforts to get around the field and prevent Derby dominating the breakdown. Nephew Mark and young Doug Martin also worked tirelessly but often with little reward. Jason Holland tried all his old tricks but against a team that tackled hard and bravely he made little headway and quite a few mistakes. Wingers, Zander Wiles and Alex Tsang gave it everything they had when they got the ball but this was infrequent.

All in all, a disappointing start to 2012 but some bright points showing through. Next week it’s a tough Pennant League fixture away to Tupton, who are lying second and Keyworth IIs will need every man jack to make the effort to travel there and try to wrest that position from them.