Belgrave 40 - 14 Loughborough

It was Belgrave that got the game off to a start with them kicking off with the slight breeze at their backs. This gave Belgrave a chance to attack using their big ball carriers in the forwards and hard runners in the centers. After some dogged defence from the Loughborough side, including some big hits and last ditch tackles on the line from Gary Bottomley and Jamie Grice, the home side eventually powered their way over for the games first try which went unconverted.

After some words behind the tryline about upping the intensity and not giving away silly penalties, Loughborough came back into the game fighting. Some excellent skills from newborn Fly Half Harry Venning, David Clay and Thomas Kirkby really opened up some space for the quick blokes on the wings, Cameron Woods and Rohan Makepeace, to really make inroads into the Belgrave defence.
This led to a finely executed lineout on the Belgrave 22m. An arrow of a throw from Hooker Adrian Leitao found Jamie Grice high above the opposing jumper, which Loughborough then turned into a devastating maul which abruptly came to an end 10 meters out from the Belgrave line before eventually being turned over and cleared.
Belgrave continued to pile on the pressure and the Loughborough line held firm for 15-20 minutes until Belgrave crossed the try line to add their second try, which this time was converted. Sustained pressure and some hard carries from Stephen Duffus and Matt Page gave Loughborough more go forward. It was Number 8, Scott Pears that bullied his way through 3 or 4 would be defenders before crashing over the line, Thomas Kirkby added the extras. The half time whistle came as a small relief to both sides as lungs began to burn.

Loughborough kicked off the second half having spoken about keeping composure, not making silly mistakes and generally starting strong….. This went quickly went out of the window. Belgrave took full advantage of this and quickly made their way deep into Loughborough’s half, with only a last ditch tackle from Scrum half James Busby preventing the try. Unfortunately for Loughborough, Belgrave’s scrummage was in the ascendancy and they used it to full effect throughout the game. Eventually, following a couple of defensive errors Belgrave made it over the line once again.
Loughborough only added one more score in the second half, after substitute Fly half Steven Sands made a break through the heart of the Belgrave defence, beating a host of defenders and giving a perfect pass for heavyweight Full back Callum Smith to turn on the pace and run it in from beyond the 22m, Thomas Kirkby converted.
From this point more errors started to creep into the Loughborough defence and Belgrave took full advantage, running in a number of tries on the last 10-15 minutes of the game.

Final score 40-14, which although Belgrave were the deserved winners, Loughborough can feel as though it should have been a much tighter affair.

Coach Stephen Duffus commented after the game, ‘Belgrave are a team who were County Cup finalists last year for good reason! We have lots to work on, but we take a lot of positives out of today’s game’