Sat 4 Dec 2021
Peterborough RUFC arrived at Derby to a very wet and blustery day for their latest East Midlands 1 fixture. Derby were sitting in 2nd place and 3rd placed Boro knew victory would see them go above their opponents.
Boro had a dream start after receiving the kick-off they went through several phases which saw them work their way up the pitch. Derby were penalised and a quick-thinking Sam Crooks took a quick tap penalty and burst over for Boro's first try and only 90 secs gone. From there the game settled into somewhat of an arm wrestle. Derby then showed they weren't going away and scored a try followed by a penalty to take an 8-5 lead. Despite this Boro were the better side and Captain George Offer scored a good team try which Byron Van Uden converted to take a well-deserved half time lead, 12-8.
Boro then seemed to switch off at the start of the second half and Derby scored a breakaway try which was converted to take a 15- 12 lead. There was plenty of time left for Boro to come back. Boro then took control of the game again with Michael Hall, Robert Moulds and Miguel Alves making some telling runs. A penalty kicked by Van Uden leveled the scores at 15 all. The pressure on Derby's defense began to tell and Boro finished the opposition off with both Ryan Morris and Nic Langton scoring tries. Boro had a 25-15 win which with a bonus point for scoring 4 tries moves them back up to 2nd in the table.
My thoughts; "Like most of our games this season we played some really good rugby but mixed in with some not-so-good stuff. We never really looked like losing the game which was pleasing but rather just made hard work of it at times. Robert Moulds and Michael Hall played really well this week. Looking to next Saturday and it’s Dronfield at home. They have been playing really well and I expect another tight contest. If we can play with a bit more maturity we hopefully will come away with another win."
