Match reports for Saturday 11th
December 1999
Taken from the Derby Evening Telegraph 14/12/99
Sparkling Dymond shines in Belper victory
Belper 1st XV 17pts Nott'm Casuals 1st XV 8pts (NLD League One)
Steve Dymond scored all Belper's points in this superb victory.
A penalty and an unconverted try gave Casuals an 8-0 lead but those were the only
occasions when the Belper defence was breached. With veteran number eight Rob Parker and
Skipper Ed O'Dell tackling like men possessed, Belper gained a foothold in the match and
Dymond reduced the deficit with a try which he converted. Dymond then kicked a long range
penalty to give Belper a 10 - 8 half-time advantage.
And after the break, Belper continued to push casuals onto the back foot.
Tim Yule dominated the line-out for Belper, while Simon Cooke and Mike French produced
some crunching tackles to keep Casuals at bay.
Man of the match Steve Dymond thundered over for his second try which he duly converted.
Victory enabled Belper to leap-frog their opponents and climb up to third in Notts, Lincs,
Derbys One.
Match reports for Saturday 11th
December 1999
Taken from the Belper News 15/12/99
Belper 1st XV 17pts Nott'm Casuals 1st XV 8pts (NLD League One)
This outstanding and satisfying victory from a hard fought
match saw Belper leapfrog their opponents into third place in the league table.
On a muddy pitch in heavy rain, Belper showed tremendous resilience in defence and chose
the better game plan, often keeping the ball close to the scrum and then using the kicking
skills of Steve Dymond to drive Notts back deep into their own half.
However, Notts opened the scoring with a penalty and an unconverted try for an early 8-0
lead, but was to prove the only time they managed to breach the Belper defence.
With veteran number eight Rob Parker and Skipper Ed O'Dell on the flank and both tackling
strongly, Belper came into the game and quick thinking scrum-half Jon French, from a ruck,
fed Dymond who burst a tackle, dummied the cover defence and scored a try which he
converted himself.
Dymond then kicked a long range penalty to give Belper a 10 - 8 lead.
The second half saw Belper continue to use the conditions better than their hosts.
With the returning Tim Yule dominating the line-out and Simon Cooke and Mike French
running hard and putting in crunching tackles, Notts were unable to score, whilst Belper
pressure saw the ball coming out of another ruck for French to set up man of the match
Dymond to thunder over for a second try which he also converted.
Belper2nd XV 3pts Nott'm Casuals 2nd XV 29pts
Played in heavy conditions Belper found themselves against
a very large pack which dominated the game and enabled the visitors to score three tries.
man of the match Darren Butler worked valiantly amongst the home forwards, ably
by Craig Tennick, Ross Moore and Chris Smith.
Ed Tomlinson had to keep the ball amongst the forwards in the conditions, but was able to
feed Andy Birchett to set up the backs on a number of occasions.
Birchett kicked a penalty for Belper's only points, as they battled hard to the final
whistle.
Belper 3rd XV 20pts Nott'm Casuals 3rd XV 42pts
In a well-refereed friendly game in poor conditions,
Belper were just not strong enough to win, despite scoring three excellent tries
themselves.
Notts had a quick winger who proved almost impossible to stop and proved to
be the main difference between the teams, scoring a hat-trick of tries, despite
the valiant efforts of Belper's new winger Sean Miller.
Prop Phil Robinson joined the back row to great effect whilst veteran Jim Kenning
guided youngster Gareth Lyon to a fine display in the centre.
Mick Finn darted over for a superb try early on which he converted himself.
Nigel Gell then showed his famous side-step and dummy to fly over in the corner,
before man of the match, Simon Blount, capped an excellent all-round display
by bulldozing over for the third and final try.