It may have read like this: “Derby RFC club announcements: the 2nd XV fixture is cancelled this week. Other news – 12 of the 3rd XV will no longer be needed…” it was a suspicion which was later confirmed to dick of the day McKegney (more to follow on this) by his mate, who just so happened to be one of the new faces in the Derby team!
That sounds like a bit of a whinge, but it isn’t - it is intended as a yardstick of how hard the 2s are to beat, as this game was a well fought contest between two very evenly matched teams in what were in anyone’s book atrocious conditions.
The early exchanges set the tone for the day – the smaller (comparatively) fitter Moderns pack holding their own against their opposition, biding their time until age, weight and the quagmire sucked the energy out of the Derby pack. Errors due to the conditions, and some good backline defending from Derby meant that we could not get out of our half, and 10 minutes in when Derby managed to keep hold of the ball and string a few phases together, they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Which the kicker nearly made leave the ground! But try as they might, Moderns could not get out of their 22 from the restart, and after a FANTASTIC hissy fit by their 7 when the ref judged he had stepped in touch whilst scoring in the corner – he threw the corner flag away in disgust and everything!, Derby did manage to cross and open the scoring. This was followed by a second, and at 10-0 down, Moderns finally discovered the motivation and the control of the conditions to start to impose themselves on the match. Good territorial work and excellent retention at the breakdown of our own ball (a feature all day) saw us win 2 penalties which unfortunately McKegney could not slot over. This may have something to do with the fact that he was kicking off what appeared to be a cut down traffic cone – I am loathe to generalise about tax dodgers and their love of theft from the Highways Agency, but you’re not helping yourself Will!
But Mods weren’t done, and the constant pressure saw us take the lead when a catch and drive lineout took moderns 20 metres up the field followed by some quick hands allowing Barney to squeeze over in the corner, closely followed by Bevis beating a number of defenders before showing good strength to go over, giving us a narrow lead at half time, 12-10.
The second half started as the first ended, as good a platform as could be maintained in the ever worsening conditions allowed moderns to camp in the Derby half from the off, and good contributions from all three half time substitutes (Gaunt plus new boys Martin and Pete) helped put Fitton over in the corner, after of course throwing one of his mandatory dummies. This, closely followed by a successful shot at goal had us 20-10 up and looking to kill the game off with a bonus point score. However the conditions by this time were taking their toll on the game – at times during broken play it was genuinely difficult to see who was playing for which team and although through no lack of effort from 1 – 15 especially from JP in the pack and Martin in the centre – making hard yards and at one point smashing his opposite number so far into next week the ref had to immediately stop the game to check he was still with us - Moderns couldn’t find the control to get the bonus point try and kill the game. Then Derby sparked back to life, and two well taken scores along with a conversion gave them a lead that they were to hold until the final whistle with some desperate defence as Moderns threw the kitchen sink at them to try and grab the win.
Dick of the day this week goes to Mr McKegney, who decided that instead of catching a kick off, he would try and emulate his rugby hero Joe O’Kelly and volleyed the thing straight back at Derby. If he wasn’t already certain to be DOTD, his post match claims that ‘he thought it was on’ sealed it!
Man of the Match this week was JP – he picked up a nasty knock in the first half but manned up and made great contributions all over the park. |