Saturday saw Donington play hosts to Loughborough Development side. A team made from Colts and Students, with the potential to run at you and tackle all day long.
After a few below-par performances, Donington needed to regain their early season form and Drive. They didn't disappoint !
Straight from the whistle, Donington forced their height and weight advantage over Loughborough, pushing deep into their 22.
Skipper Darren Summers and vice captain Julian Valentine were superb in the lineout, stealing practically every Loughborough ball.
The pack were dominant in the scrums, leaving Loughborough starved of any clean ball. The new half back pairing struggled with their Range, but both were excellent in other areas.
Alex Hooley, having recently taken over scrum half duties, connected superbly with Dan Keeling at No. 8, with pick up an go moves from the scrum.
It wasn't long before Dan Kitchin hacked through a loose ball and won the race, to score an unconverted try. 5-0
Frustration set in as Loughborough could only feed off scraps, and a misdemeanour in front of the posts, led to a Kitchen penalty. 8-0
With Donington looking more like their former selves, the forwards drove to the line, with Ben Kibble crashing through for an unconverted try and a half time lead of 13-0
Donington carried on the second half doing what they do best! With the forwards driving and setting up rucks, again and again, leaving the Loughborough pack powerless to stop them.
Loughborough's backs, however, had other ideas and tackled bravely, nipping every Donington backs move in the bud.
Eventually, Dan Keeling broke the solid Loughborough defence to score near the posts.18-0. Amazingly, Loughborough showed their resilience, charging down the conversion.
With their heads up, Loughborough immediately came back at Donington, with their backs running in a magnificent try from halfway, converted. 18-7
Donington reiterated their forwards domination, once again driving for the line, with fly half Matt Kibble crashing over for a Dan Kitchin converted try. 25-7
With Loughborough showing no signs of giving up, Alex Hooley made a break from halfway, sprinting for the line, closely pursued by the whole Loughborough back line. Hooley won the race for a brilliant try, converted again by Dan Kitchin to make the score 32-7.
After a lovely bit of interplay between Dan Robinson and Jean-Eude Michaud, Darren Summers eventually went over in the corner for an unconverted try and a final score of Castle Donington 37, Loughborough Development 7