Belper finish season with a fight!

Melbourne 1st XV 12 v Belper 1st XV 5

The semi-final of the Derbyshire plate saw Belper face old rivals Melbourne in what turned out to be a clash and a half with both sides desperate to get to the final early in May.

Melbourne started brightly using the wind to their advantage, pinning Belper in their half for much of the opening 10 minutes.

Belper tackled well but without Dymond at Fly-half lacked the kicking power needed in defence.

Despite Belper's best efforts Melbourne broke through in the corner to open the scoring with a unconverted try.

On occasions Belper have lost their heads after going behind so early but didn't this time, they simply regrouped and with the massive travelling support behind them the Belper's OPs cheering them forth they battered the Melbourne line for the rest of the half.

It was Gaz Dakin who scored the equalising try with Belper rolling the maul into Melbourne's 22, the ball was spun out to Cook in the centers by a superb long pass from rookie fly-half Coombes, Cooke crashed three tacklers setting the ruck, Dakin picked up and dived over in the corner.

The second half was much the same with Belper moving the ball well with Blackwell, Rich Kiwi and Teager causing the home side all kinds of problems.

Melbourne attacked on the counter and Belper's defence had to be on top form.
Inns and Bartrum tackled hard and covered everywhere on the park.

Despite Belper's hard work and vigour they failed to break a resiliant defence and in the last 10 minutes Melbourne scored with their scrum half picking up at a penalty, tapping quick and with Belper's players tired they failed to tackle and he strolled in to score under the posts and win their way through to the final in a few weeks.

Belper's capitain had nothing but admiration for his players hard work and skilled play, saying "with many young players coming in and many playing out of position we showed our togetherness and never gave in working for each other, we might not be finalists but we are now becoming a real team who next season with the dedication shown today can really do something in league and cup competitions".