Ashbourne 2nd XV 27 v Belper 1st XV 10

It was a tail of two halves as these two teams worked hard with Ashbourne's togetherness and experience in certain areas paying dividends in the first half and Belper's dogged determination and hard work giving them something to take away with them in the second half.

Belper fielded a much changed team with Jack Blount and Ben Garrett Making their first team debuts, both of them giving superb accounts of themselves.

In the first half Ashbourne were the stronger side finishing well with three tries coming following good forward and in turn good back play with Belper's defence being dragged all over the place, some excellent last ditch tackling from Blount kept the scoring down and ensured Belper didn't come in to the interval behind any further than 17-0.

Three changes at half time saw Belper turn the screw with Tennick, Coombes and Gratton entering the fray. This made an instant impact with Belper seeming more together in their play and their defencive lines pressured Ashbourne into making mistakes in attack.

Some excellent forward play from Bartrum saw Belper nearly score with Bartrum running from his own half to deep inside the home team's 22 and popping the ball to Holmes who set up the ruck from which Coombes spun the ball out to Gratton who was tackled inches short of the line.

Moments later Belper Scored with some hard work in the centers from Cooke , with him tackling hard causing the defender to spill the ball with Gratton popping to Holmes who spun the Ball to J Holmes who crashed in to score right of the posts.


Ashbourne replied within seconds of the kick off with their forwards taking the ball on well but with Inns putting in his usual quota of massive crunching tackles, they were stopped close to Belper's 22 and the center threw the ball forward to their flanker who scored near the posts, with the ref adjudging the ball to have gone sidewards.

With only minutes left Belper replied with a score of their own, Cooke broke through the Ashbourne line with Tennick screaming at him, only to be tackled a metre out the ruck was formed and Belper's forwards set up Coombes who spun the ball to Tennick who ran to the blind side of the ruck, dummied two defenders and floated the ball out to Dakin who popped up on the wing to score in the corner.

Belper finished down 27-10, but with the colts players coming through the next season should be very exciting. Belper's last definite game of the season is away to Melbourne in the Semi-final of the Derbyshire plate, 3pm KO at Melbourne.