A late venue change saw our U13’s away to local rivals Chesterfield Panthers for a late kick off this morning. Our hosts were certainly well warmed up and fired up to revenge our NLD cup victory against them earlier in the season. The first phases of play were with Dronfield however from this point Panthers took control of the first half. Aggressive tackling and quick to steal in the breakdown, Chesterfield utilised their line width and with their athleticism and pace at full back and out wide ran in four first half tries. A halftime pep talk from the coaches sparked a light and with steely determination Dronfield began to match up better in the tackle and breakdown, however still playing narrow and risking Panthers pace out wide breaking away. Determined ball carrying by our forwards and pacy line breaks from our backs brought us to Chesterfield’s try line a number of times leading to tries. An overall 30-15 defeat and some lessons to be taken on our recent slow starts, however every player worked hard and put their bodies on the line. Some knocks and bumps to soothe, player of the match to Elias for repeatedly taking it to Chesterfield in the second half after having to come off earlier following a bang and a bloodied nose