Kettering were forced into numerous changes as forwards, Josh Cox, Jamie Bishop, Josh Block, George Newman and backs, Tom Bridgeman, Joe Newman and James Taylor were all unavailable for this difficult clash against a battling Derby side.

The Blues took the lead, when Joe Daniel skillfully collected a loose ball and raced 70 metres to score under the posts.

Then 2 penalties from the fullback, sandwiched between a Derby penalty saw the much changed Blues side take a 13-3 lead into the last seconds of the first half, only for Derby to close the gap right at the death, when a clever kick through by the fly half was hacked on by the left wing, who dived onto the ball as it crossed the line for an unconverted try, which saw the Blues go into the break with a 13-8 lead.

Derby then took the initiative and full advantage of a yellow card for Archie Toseland to score a pushover try from the resultant scrummage. This was preceded by a penalty to give the visitors a slender 16-13 lead.

Entering the last 15 minutes, the Blues found themselves staring at a first defeat.

However, once again they showed their resolve and aided by 2 yellow cards against Derby, they scored two vitally important tries through, firstly Jordan Butlin, on the end of some fine handling, and then Andy Byrne burst through from close range to score under the posts, with Daniels conversion putting the result beyond the visitors.