Sat 16 Feb 2019, 14:15
Third placed DK went into this game with Malvern, knowing that they had to secure a bonus point win, to take advantage of the loser in the clash between the two teams above them. This they did scoring 10 tries in their 60-21 victory over Malvern. Though, Malvern despite their lowly position in the league, play some very attractive rugby and it is something of a surprise that they have not picked up more points during the season.
Though, perhaps the die was cast on 5 minutes, when the DK backs simply passed the ball quickly across their 22 to Charlie Baffour, who was given the opportunity to accelerate with no tackler to check his run, through the gears and into open space a sprint in front of the stand, with the decibel level rising and around under the posts untouched, and Sam on Target, 7-0 to DK. Though, it was Malvern who hit back following a penalty into the Wanderers Corner, the won their line out throw and drove open and following a couple of pick and goes scored a try, and levelled the score at 7-7. Malvern were taking full advantage of the cross wind mainly due to their experienced fly half Rob Cook who was continually pushing DK back with kicks which found grass and then rolled into touch. DK weathered this period of pressure and struck quickly, they forced a line out in the Malvern 22, and it was won well by Matt Perks in the middle and straight into a rolling maul, which was driven straight towards the Malvern line, the ball was moved to the back of the maul and it was Josh Brown who touched the ball down over the line, DK were now 12-7 in front.
DK had achieved a period of dominance in the later stages of the first half and Charlie Baffour once again benefitted with a try from closer range this time of about 20 metres to run it in; it followed a period of phase play in which DK had started on Charlie’s left wing had moved the ball across the field, and moved the defenders towards the ball then swung it back to the left and good handling once again saw Charlie into space and over the line, 17-7 to DK. DK added the bonus point try which started from a line out on their right, the ball found its way to the DK tail gunner Jon McCormack, who secured the ball and Connah Jones was able to set the backs flowing, it was taken into contact in the centres and was then secured and the ball was swung back to the DK line who ran the ball back exploiting an overlap a Nick Adams show and go saw him clean through to the line, and the all-important bonus point try, 24-7 to DK. The final minutes of the first half saw Malvern come back into the game, DK had once again won a line out due to Jon McCormack at the tail, and swung the ball wide, but it was dropped in midfield and recovered by Malvern, it was back in hands off Rob Cook, who showed why he had played at the top level, he scanned the pitch and then put a kick on a sixpence over to his left wing to run onto and it for a try, 24-14 to DK. Malvern then missed the chance to reduce the gap even further, they were awarded a penalty which they kicked for the corner, but it went dead in goal and the danger was defused and the half time whistle came.
Half time messages were given both sets of coaches, but the third quarter of the game was to be all DK, and the revival at the end of the first half by Malvern was definitely over. A penalty early in the second half saw DK kick into the Wanderers corner, and it was Jon McCormack who secured the ball once again the ball appeared stalled when Matt Perks injected forward momentum and he was able to offload to Jordan Brookes, who fed the ball back to Pete Griffiths coming at pace and the number 8 was able to force his way over the line for the opening try of the second half, 31-14 to DK. The Malvern defence was under pressure at this period of the game and was finding it difficult to contain the DK runners and that impacted on their ability to realign for the next phase of play. Stef Shillingford and Matt Perks in particular were making good runs and James Fildes and James Ryan were also featuring in open play.
The next try came from a line out, in front of the scoreboard, a Matt Perks take and the drive around the back of the line out, DK had worked it well and it was fitting that Jon McCormack came up with the try, 36-14 to DK. Moments later DK were back in the same corner following a penalty for offside, a player playing the ball in an offside position, a coach killer if ever there was one. This time DK looked to be well on the way to another score when it was adjudged to be a case on “Truck and Trailer”. DK added a try off first phase, a line out on the stand side was put out along the line to Charlie Baffour who fought off would be tacklers and raced to the line, to complete another hat trick, 41-14.
Then James Ryan turned defence into attack with a run down the stand side wing and the ensuing ruck was quickly won and the back line was set in motion by Connah Jones and a lateral run by Jordan Brookes saw two big dummy runs which held the defence and the short pass to Sam Vaughan who was running the third hard line and he was through the defence and he made the line in the scoreboard corner, 45-14. At this point Malvern gained a foothold back into the game, and the referee who had penalised DK quite consistently at the breakdown lost patience and yellow carded Josh Brown, and from a resulting scrummage penalised the DK front row for standing up and awarded a penalty try, so the score became 45-21.
Malvern were quick to realise that another try would give them a bonus point but they could not threaten the DK line in fact it was DK who would score the remaining tries. The next DK try was also a penalty try, it started with a line out in front of the dug outs, taken by DK driven forward and then out to the backs this time Tommy Walker out stripped the defence and into the Wanderers corner, but the referee did not like the tackle, and awarded a Penalty try, so 53-21 to DK. It wasn’t Groundhog Day, but the last try also came off a line out. This time straight out to the backs Jordan Brookes attacked the line and beat his man, and offload to Mitch Grealey who was through and under the posts, plus two from Sam 60-21.
