Belper grind out Victory

Belper 1st XV 12 v Tupton 1st XV 0

Belper sporting a much changed team due to injury, illness and other commitments ground out a hard earned victory against a much improved Tupton side.

Belper dominated the first half with the backs being used well spreading the ball and knocking holes in the visitors defence with Dymond stepping through the visitor's line at will.

Belper's opening try came following excellent rucking from the forwards, with Holmes and England driving deep into Tupton's 22, Griffiths picked up at the back of the ruck, dummied his opposite number then ran in next to the posts, Dymond converted to give Belper a 7-0 lead.

Belper continued to boss the game with Coombes and Hayward holding the oppositions scrums back with expert propping against much larger opposition.

Belpers next try came following some quick hands in the centres from new boy Coupland and excellent running from Lewis who ran in from 20 yards out avoiding the attentions of two defenders trying to tackle him, but he managed to come back inside them to score left of the posts.

Belper came in at half time 12-0 to the good, the second half saw Belper own much of the possession but on each occasion they took the ball on, poor handling lead to a knock on or turn over. So much of the second half saw the ever young Holmes returning the ball from his 22 and running 40 yards only for someone to lose the ball and have it kicked back to the 22.

The performance wasn't pretty but saw Belper's resilience and hard work pay off, also discipline was much better with Belper's players listening to the ref and keeping their opinions to themselves.