Following a week of jubilation Belper, fielding a much changed side just never quite got going and found a well drilled Melbourne side just too strong for them.

With the home side kicking off to Belper with the wind behind them Belper found themselves camped in their own half for long periods but tackled hard and kept the Melbourne waves of pressure at bay until the 30 minutes mark when Melbourne finally broke through to score and then moments later scored again with a penalty to give them a 8-0 half time lead.

Belper had scored themselves in the corner but the try from Nicholson was disallowed as the Melbourne team appealed for foot in touch, the linesman and ref both failed to see so the referee decided to cancel the try.

Belper also held firm with Carter and Yates both making their debuts and both working tirelessly and putting some big hits in defence and taking the ball on well.

After halftime Belper kicked off with the wind behind them and soon won a penalty in front of the posts which Blackwell slotted well. 8-3

Belper continued to use the wind and pressure with Holmes and Skivington combining well in attack on numerous occasions but Belper never managed to put further points on the board.

Melbourne having a much more settled and cannier side finally broke Belper's resolve and ran in 3 well worked tries in the last 15 minutes upping the final score to 25-3

Belper had lots of postives to take from the match and Man of the Match Laven proved even at 57 you can still hack it in the first XV

Belper entertain a Matlock XV and Touring side Ventnor in a round robin tournament next Saturday kicking off at 12 noon. Everyone is welcome and the Bar will be open till late with live Music in the evening