Blues return to winning ways

The visitors began brightly enough asking questions of the Blues defence, which responded in kind and the home side scored 2 early tries from turnover ball which was quickly transferred into attack and firstly, Jordan Butlin was in support of the break by Steve Fraher to score an unconverted try and then, when George Newman was stopped after a fifty metre run, the ball was spread wide for Joe Daniel to cross for the second unconverted score, to give the Blues a 10 point lead after 15 minutes.
Despite their efforts, Ilkeston were finding it difficult to make any real headway agaisnt the resolute Blues defence, which forced errors from the visitors and led to 2 furthe scores before half--time.

Firstly,, Gareth Rees cleverly grubbed kicked through for the excellent Dan Ireland to score after the latter had made the initial break and fed Rees, with Daniel adding the extra's and then Josh Cox dotted down. After a well executed catch and drive from a line out on the visitors 22. Daniel again converted to give the Blues a 24 point half-time lead and a 4 try bonus point.

The 2nd half was significantly tighter, with Ilkeston using the wind at their backs, and the Blues struggling to break out on the sticky surface. Despite their territorial advantage the visitors failed to create any meaningful scoring opportunities and it was the Blues who scored the only points of the half, when they lifted their game inn the final quarter and created several opportunities of their own. From one of these an inside pass from scrum-half, Ben Hanger, saw Ireland burst through for his second try of the game, to see the Blues home in style.

A much improved over all round performance from Kettering, with Ollie Furniss making a successful start at fly half for the first time this season, and Chris Chapman making a significant contribution in his first game of the season. Defensively the Blues were solid, which showed in a rare "nilling" of the Derbyshire opponents, and in attack, the home side showed real intent for the first time in a while.

Raj Man of the Match: Dan Ireland