CARL Douglas says Dudley Kingswinford's derby day hammering at the hands of Old Halesonians needs to spark some soul-searching in the Heathbrook dressing room.

The director of rugby says both the playing and coaching side of the club need to look at themselves as DK aim to bounce back from last Saturday's 68-0 away defeat.

"With the exception of Sandbach, this was probably the worst moment since I took charge," said Douglas.

"The players and the coaches all need to look at themselves and see what more they can do to influence games. It is not just players but coaches as well.

"I set up the game plan and need to make it work. If it's not working then I need to change it.

"Overall, we didn't front up or deliver. Normally we can say we got stuck in, but we didn't do that to the level needed. There were times when we took our foot of the pedal."

Immediately from the kick off, DK were put under pressure and it took only six minutes for the home team to open their account. Following good ball retention Halesowen worked the ball wide for right wing Patrick Lufkin to score. Chris Hooper added the extra points with an excellent kick from the touch line.

Within a further three minutes, the home team created a carbon copy score to that of the first with Lufkin crossing wide out on the right. Once again, Chris Hooper was successful with the conversion.

DK began to ease their way into the game but were making too many mistakes and were constantly being penalised for ill-discipline.

In the 18th minute, following yet another mistake when DK were turned over, Hales countered at speed which led to Lufkin bagging his hat-trick.

DK were now finding it extremely hard to secure possession, with the Halesowen back row being particularly dominant. With Halesowen dominating possession and territory, it was only a question of time before they increased their lead. On the half hour they scored on the right with centre Andy Robinson touching down. Chris Hooper adjusted his radar and converted with yet another excellent kick.

This final ten minutes of the first half become one way traffic with DK under immense pressure for most of the time. With five minutes of the half remaining Halesowen were awarded yet another penalty. The home team shunned the kick at goal and full back Chris Hooper took a quick tap and crossed unopposed. With a lesson in goal kicking, he converted his own try with another excellent kick.

The second half continued in the same vein with DK making too many errors and giving away far too many penalties.

Aaron Hudson then received his marching order. As he had replaced injured Al Francis it meant DK were unable to field a complete front row. This resulted in the referee ordering uncontested scrums. According to the laws of the game, as punishment, DK had to lose yet another player thus playing the next ten minutes with only 13 men on the field.

This led to the flood gates opening and Halesowen ran in a further five tries courtesy of Tom Jordon, a brace by Tom Dempsey, Calum Young and Carl Robinson. Chris Hooper converted all five.

"We must give credit to Old Hales. They played some very good rugby and scored three tries in quick succession and had us hanging on by our fingernails.

"We need to be more streetwise in terms of what the referee expects of us in the contact areas. We got on the wrong side of him and that had a negative impact on the rest of our game."

However, Douglas backed the players to bounce back.

He added: "They are a strong group and have experienced these results a lot in recent years. They are the kind of players to react in the right manner.

"We need to put the game behind us and put all our focus on to the next."

DK will take on Peterborough Lions, who sit a place behind Old Hales in fourth, at home this Saturday (2.15pm).