Daylight for Deepings in derby stroll over Stamford

Above: Phil Trotman puts in a bone-crunching tackle for Deepings against Stamford College Old Boys at Linchfield Road.
Photo by Tim Wilson.

Skipper Guy Cunningham was happy as Deepings put daylight between themselves and the strugglers in Midlands Four (East) South with an derby day win over Stamford College Old Boys.

Two tries by Jack Rogers and one from Nathan Pound saw the Green Machine home to their first win of 2016 despite a mistake by scrum-half, Lance Charity which led to the Old Boys’ solitary try at Linchfield Road.

Deepings go into another derby date at Thorney on Saturday boosted by a powerhouse performance by Phil Trotman, although Cunningham said: “It was quite a close match where we had a bit more of a cutting edge than Stamford.

“They had been on some good form recently so for us to come out and play like we did was really good."

“For the first try, Jack just burst through and shrugged off three tackles to put the ball over and score."

“The second try was largely about forward momentum where we got underneath Stamford in the scrum, pushed them back and Jack got in at the corner."

“Finally, Nathan charged down the ball, caught it and ran in to seal a good win.”

Deepings had ended 2015 with three straight defeats, but renewed purpose on the training ground and near full-strength side may have seen the Green Machine turn the corner for the second half the season.

Cunningham said: “The league is quite close, with a bit of a gap between us and the top teams, so you’re getting lots of good matches.

“Against Stamford, our forwards were fantastic, Chris Sorley came back after a spell out of the team and played really well, Phil Trotman put in what was almost a man-of-the-match performance and we were able to play some attractive rugby."

“But everyone has done it collectively and this just shows that we’re as good as we think we are.”

Read more: www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/sport/rugby/
published 14:04 Sunday 10 January 2016