Derwent college persist in their winning ways, beating Halifax college emphatically with a deluge of tries, ultimately leading to the final score of 55-7. Derwent, having beaten Alcuin 52-0 at halftime on Saturday, were heedful of becoming complacent after such a simple encounter, and heedful they were as they maintained constant vigilance throughout the entirety of this tougher fixture, both defensively and attackingly. Unfortunately for Halifax, this daunting matchup was to be their first; their weekend fixture against James having been cancelled.
The influx of freshers for both teams allowed for occasional miscommunication and lack of coherence, resulting in haphazard, reckless play. Scrums were often alternated between contested and uncontested, due to lack of, or inexperienced props. These issues affected Halifax perhaps somewhat more, having not yet played a full match as a team.
The Derwent players knew they were to expect a game much more physical and gritty than their first encounter with Alcuin. This judgement was accurate, as James McNeil,Halifax’s 10, provided his rushing forwards with an adept high-ball from kick-off, to which they pounced on and secured possession.
After some scrappy Halifax play around the rucks, Derwent were awarded possession. After some effective forward pod-play, Derwent centre Alex Cochrane-Dyet offloaded a pass to full-back, Edward Kemp who showcased his agile prowess by brushing past the Halifax backline 40 metres from the try-line to draw first blood for Derwent. Phil Hammick, Derwent 10, clinically converted.
Halifax did not let this early try discompose them, and resumed play with resurgent zeal. The next few minutes played within Derwent’s 22, it seemed Derwent were now on the back foot. Halifax were ultimately awarded a penalty kick, which James McNeil unfortunately missed, signaling the end of this Halifax offensive; score remaining 7-0 to Derwent.
Derwent were next to begin an incursion, with props Will Orchard and Chris Judge executing a fierce joint-run mid-field, offloading to winger Alex Sankey who clumsily knocked the ball forward. Nevertheless, Sankey was soon to remedy this slip, scoring Derwent’s second try of the game after a dextrous offload from Norwegian international, Kristian Elgheim at 25 minutes.
A great take by Luca Illing in theHalifaxkick-off precipitated an immediate try; winger James Pilkington providing Elgheim with an expert offload to touch down near the sidelines. It wasn’t long for man-of-the-match, Ed Kemp, to grab his second try, following some silky backline movements, which typified the manner in which Derwent surpassed the Halifax team.
Derwent, now comfortably in the lead, were caught off-guard by a strong Halifax drive in Derwent’s 22, their forwards coalescing to transport the ball closer to Derwent’s try-line, but to no avail. Again some scrappy play provided Derwent with possession, which they did not squander;Norway’s Elgheim again instigating a try, passing to prop ‘Bobo’ Johnson to score under the posts. 29-0 at halftime.
Derwent almost instantly secured another try after kick-off, Richard Whittaker offloading to fellow centre and scorer Alex Cochrane-Dyet. Halifax however, were by no means giving up, with Charles Hadley performing a stellar interception to steal the ball from the Derwent, almost scoring a try from beyond halfway had it not been for Phil Hammick’s resilient chasing.
Another two tries followed for Derwent, against a now languid Halifax, Ed Kemp securing his hat-trick of tries, and flanker Hugo Marino touching down for his first.
Halifax were eventually rewarded a consolation try for their robust efforts, ‘Brutus’ a.k.a Scott Galley, crossing the Derwent try-line after some fervent 15-minute domination by the Halifax squad. McNeil rectified his earlier missed penalty by converting. Score now 48-7.
Despite this brief moment of brilliance from the Halifax side, Derwent added insult to injury by scoring the last try of the game, Cochrane-Dyet again originating the try with a pop to Elgheim who sped past the struggling defense. This emphatic victory warrants the dubbing of Derwent as stark title-contenders, having scored 107, and conceded 7 points in 2 games.
Derwent captain, Chris Judge, commented on this auspicious start to the season: “As expected, this was a very physical game, both teams newly mixed with players old and new. It was good to put into practice what we did in training, and I’m excited to see how we progress throughout the season.”
Halifax captain, Andy Cox, accepted the defeat but was by no means downcast: “We were unlucky not to get a game on the weekend to train our team. I’m still proud of the boys, we had a solid second half and got a try in the end. Derwent are easily the best team again this year though.”