West Bridgeford 71 – Belper RUFC 20

Into the side came Andy Birchett at 10, Jack Hibberd at 13, Dan Carter on the wing, Jake Holmes at openside with Eddy Watson coming back into the side from the bench.

After recent weeks of defeat the talk before the game was that of fighting for everything, even when games are lost to do all they can to pick up bonus points along the way. Belper could not have started any worse conceding a try in the first few seconds of the game. They did strike back though through captain Tony England. Strong running from Bryan O’Gorman and back up from the forwards had Belper on the away line. A clever inside pass from James Naylor opened the gap for the captain to score under the posts. Unfortunately for Belper it was again a story of poor first up tackles. This allowed Bridgeford to create an overlap on several occasions leaving wings and full back an impossible job trying to pick up the spare men. Dan Carter, Tom Stones and James Naylor were doing all they could and if it wasn’t for some excellent tackling the score could have been worse. Belper did manage a score before the half with a break from Andrew Yorke. He went from the back of the scrum and with help from the backs he crashed over for a much deserved try.

Injury to Adam Holland meant Belper had to move the impressive Jake Holmes into the backs. It was unfortunate for the player who was having a blinder in the loose but his versatility was needed elsewhere. At half time the call again from the side-line was to push for the bonus point. The second half mirrored the first in many ways with Belper having good pressure and moments when they should have scored. James Kmieciak was held up short and handling in the ruck prevented James Naylor releasing Tom Stones for what would have been a certain score. For all Belpers pressure Bridgeford broke well and Belper struggled to get hold of their inside centre. More tries came the hosts way but Belper pushed and pushed to try and get the important bonus point 4th try. Belpers scrum was now working much better than it had all season and they managed to turn a scrum on the opposition’s line. This allowed Tony England to pick up and drive over the line for the bonus point.

Despite what looks a heavy defeat on paper Belper were not that far away from the team at the top. Once the defence tightens up Belper will be a different force in the league. Credit to the boys for sticking to it and getting the bonus point which could prove very important at the end of the season.