Hope Valley Hawks retained the 3v Sports Midlands Rugby League Division Two title after a commanding 46-10 victory over Derbyshire rivals the North Derbyshire Chargers.
Hope Valley started the game in explosive fashion when half back Scott Buckler crossed the whitewash after only two minutes. The Hawks continued their early dominance as club founder Mike Shires scored the first of his two tries as he burrowed over from short range. Another four minutes later Shires repeated the feat as he once again proved too strong for the Chargers goal line defence. For the remainder of the first half the Chargers struggled to keep up with the pace of the Hawks attack and they scored two further tries with Will Brocklehurst and Brett Tharme-Loose crossing the line.
The second half was a much closer affair with both teams trading blows and producing some high quality hits. Despite a valiant effort the Chargers their defence again cracked in the 54th minute as Hawks full back Tom Bell raced in to score from 50m after breaking the Chargers defence out wide. The Hawks further increased their lead 5 minutes later when centre Gethin Evans crossed. This seemed to spark the Chargers into life and with the pressure now off they started to play some sparking rugby. With half back Andrew Thorpe orchestrating the play they managed to score two late consolation tries through Thorpe and talented young winger Adam Seredynski. However it was the Hawks who were to have the final say with loose forward Jack Silcock and Scott Buckler crossing the line to seal the division two title with a 46-10 victory.
Chargers' coach Ben Hanson was philosophical about the result - "We've played them twice already this year and know what their strengths are - we had a plan but we didn't execute it and the better team on the day won. We've improved a lot recently and everyone is looking forward to next season."
