Bulls bounce back with convincing win over Derby

The Bulls were ahead after only five minutes. A scrum inside the Derby half after a particularly bruising tackle caused the Derby player to knock on and a smart interplay allowed Dave Wagstaff to score the first try.Ryan Sircar missed the conversion.

A break by Tom Bell from the Bulls own half saw him outpace the Derby defence and score after only ten minutes leaving Ryan an easy conversion to give the Bulls a 10-0 lead.

Blake Downings was next to cross the line crashing over from a short distance and with Sircar slotting home the conversion that give the Bulls a 16 point lead.

Bell then showed great football skills to kick and dribble a loose ball from halfway towards the Derby line before pouncing on it to give the Bulls a 20-0 lead and with Ryan adding the conversion the Bulls were leading 22-0.

After 25 minutes Bell went over again before Derby managed to finally break the Bulls line to make it 28-6.

Further tries from Steve Jackson and from Sircar, the latter being a solo effort from inside the Bulls half left the half time score at 40-6.

The second half was very much a re-run of the first with sustained pressure by the Buxton Bulls and a number of handling errors following extravagantly long passes by the Derby players as they tried to find a way past a solid Bulls defence.

Conner McHale was the next Bulls scorer after a period of intense Bulls pressure followed quickly by James Harper after a great dummy on the half way line had the Derby defence wrong footed. The Bulls were now leading 48-6.

Derby were not lying down and scored the next try to cut the deficit by four points before the Bulls came storming back when following a great flowing move with Sircar scoring to make it 52-10 and then adding the conversion to make the score 54-10.

A knock on by the Bulls from the restart allowed Derby to regain possession deep in the Bulls half and they managed to cross the line for their third try.

Bell and Tom Anderson wrapped up the try scoring for the Bulls to push the score to 66-16 with Sircar converting both.

A late penalty for Derby deep in the Bulls half allowed them to have the final word as the Bulls ran out worthy winners.