Kenilworth continue to struggle in the Regional One Midlands League.

A visit to Derby brought no respite, with the home side scoring a sequence of tries through sweeping moves and polished finishing.

Kenilworth showed real spirit, grit and determination to stat in the contest and scored three tries to show what they are capable of when they keep possession and get some continuity. 

After five minutes of play Derby scored through their right winger, Ryan Milton and this was unconverted. This was quickly followed up by a Derby break away try by scrum half, Joe Acton, again unconverted. 

Kenilworth showed in both the lineout and scrum they could hold their own, in the rucks, the ball was being moved quickly by Derby to their speedy wingers.

The major problem was the they spent a lot of time defending and this eventually took its toll.

This meant that Derby scored through hooker Jack Bates off a variable lineout, and a further three tries came from Derby moving the ball wide as much as possible on the 4G pitch. Only two of these were converted.

The score at half time was 34 -0 

In the second half, the match went into nip and tuck mode and Kenilworth scored next from a turn-over in midfield and a lovely finish from winger Harry Bowser in the corner, Ed Hannam converting.

This created a ray of hope for the visitors.

Derby's outstanding centre, Jack Partington, scored next and this was converted. Kenilworth spurred on by more continuity, scored again through Keiron Payne after good work by the forwards keeping the ball and recycling effectively in the opposition 22.

The score was converted by Ed Hannam. 

The match for some reason started getting fractious and there were a few verbal's exchanged between the front rows, and some shenanigans on the floor of a ruck which resulted in two yellow cards, one for each side.

The referee deciding to cool things down. Derby then scored again through their excellent centre, Lewis Hancock and this was converted.

This made the score 48 -14 on the 68-minute mark. 

Derby followed up with three more tries, all three were converted.

The pendulum swung again back to Kenilworth and in the 81st minute Kenilworth followed up with a well worked try by flanker Joe Stockbridge, who showed real guts and determination to get over the line. The try was unconverted. 

The score at the finish was 69 points to 19. This just about reflected the gap between the two teams.

However, it was a much better performance from the Kenilworth squad and they just have to keep going and see the season out, rebuild and move onwards. 

The next men's 1st XV fixture match is Syson away next Saturday at 2.15.