The Vets
had the advantage of the wind in the first half but were wary of kicking it
once they saw the power of full back Adam Parr on the run and chose to keep
the ball tight wherever possible. Although the
Derby
centre pairing threatened on occasions in the game, Rhinos had the upper hand
in the backs generally and got quickly up into their opponent’s faces to
pressure any ball they did try to move. During a tight first half,
Ripley did allow themselves to get sucked into a forward battle, which was to
the advantage of the Derby pack, with Zeique Robinson, Karl Ickeringill and
Joe Frew all working hard in the Ripley back row to set up good attack and
snuff out most danger from the home side.
Half-time
came with the match still scoreless. Rhinos had the wind behind them in
the second half and fly half Dave Trubee used his boot to pin the home side
back when he did get any ball. Ripley scrum half James Franco opened the
scoring when he pounced on turnover ball on the halfway line to break up the
left hand touchline and had the gas to touch down in the corner, with Trubee
converting. Trubee followed this up with a penalty from 30 metres in
front of the posts just before the hour to stretch the lead to 10-0.
Derby then had a twenty minute period of pressure on the Ripley line as the
away side let themselves be dominated and made crucial errors that kept them
under pressure – good defensive work from winger Chris Melhuish and Frew in
particular helped keep Derby at bay. Eventually the home side broke
through to score from close in via their scrum half but centre David Owen
charged the conversion down to keep the score at 10-5 with only two minutes
remaining, and Rhinos closed out the win.
Zeique
Robinson took the man of the match plaudits for his work around the park.
Ripley can be pleased with the win but they should have easily taken the game
bearing in mind the speed advantage they had but lacked the cohesion to make
this count.
