It’s a funny old game, this rugby lark!

Loughborough 5ths visited Belper and, as expected it was a youthful and energetic side that they put out. Had it not been for the 58 yr old “Phil Gratton” look-alike that played in the centres, then their average age must surely have been below 21 years of age? Feeling that their best chance to curtail the youngsters was to deprive them of room, Belper opted to play the game on the smaller pitch and kicked off in optimistic mood. The game went to plan with Belper immediately forcing Luffbra back deep into their half with the forwards dominating. Time after time Belper forwards made penetrating runs towards the Luffbra line. Each drive edged the Belper side nearer to the line until the referee awarded sympathetic penalties against Belper which allowed the opposition to clear their lines and have a short respite before the onslaught continued.

The trend continued with Niall Wheeler and Tom Mathews making good ground from the base of the scrum, however, more often than not Mick Elove and the others were slow to support and the advantage was lost. With Belper starting to dominate the scrums it seemed inevitable that they would score. However, it was Luffbra who opened their account first when during a ruck, deep in their own 22m, a blatant piece of handling the ball on the floor, obvious to all except the ref, went unpunished and somehow the ball ended up in the winger’s hands, who ran 80m to score. From the kick off the game resorted to plan A with Belper again driving the opposition back towards the goal line, and every time Belper threatened to score, penalties were awarded to Luffbra, Despite the Luffbra forwards being continually warned about foul play, they somehow managed to keep getting the “luck of the draw”.

It seemed Belper were certain to score under the posts until Luffbra forwards again were the wrong side of the ruck and not rolling away, and blatantly holding onto the ball on the floor until persuaded to let it go by Mick Elove’s subtle and delicate use of his boot by gently teasing the offending fingers away. Belper were delighted to be awarded the penalty under the posts and looked forward to an easy 3 points, until they realised that the ref had reversed the decision for Micky’s thuggery and improper use of his boot. Jack Blount did pull 3 points back just before halftime with a kick from distance after a penalty had been awarded. Belper ended the half 5-3 down but confident that they could triumph in the second period.

Unfortunately Luffbra had worked out that they were never going to be able to compete in the scrums, so following a crunching tackle by Josh Woodward on the Luffbra prop, they took the opportunity to go to un-contested scrums, having first agreed with the ref that the prop was not fit enough to scrum, but OK to lift in the lineout. Once again, the whole of the game was played in the opposition half with Belper squandering chance after chance. Despite having guaranteed ball at the scrum, any moves that Luffbra tried were quickly snuffed out by solid tackling by the Belper back row, centres Cooky and Dob, and wingers Danny SL and Tom Hallam especially.

Belper continued to drive forward and when 7m out from the line set up a ruck from which they seemed certain to score. The ball was set up and the backs and forwards all lined up for the next drive, when 3 opposition players ignored the “back gate” rule and came all the way round the sides before crawling between Belper feet and retrieving the ball with their hands. Belper looked forward to an easy 3 points until they realised that the penalty hadn’t been given and the Luffbra winger had taken a forward pass whilst standing in an offside position and blazed down the line, putting a foot in touch, only to drop the ball behind the posts. The try was given. The conversion was kicked and the game ended 10-3 in the oppositions favour.

Despite the excellent effort and commitment, Belper had lost a game that they should have won. If points were awarded for minutes of play, then Belper would have won 78-2 but that’s not the way the game works and like I said, rugby is a funny old game!

Tom Mathews and Niall Wheeler were front runners for man of the match, with Tom just shading it. However, many who played in and most that watched the game, thought that the M-o-M award should have gone to Andy Laven who mesmerised and confused everyone, and with no-one entirely sure what he was going to do next, caused mayhem all afternoon, so much so that his name will be the first on the team sheet next week.

Mick Elove stated that Andy’s performance was “incredible” with El Presidente Blount adding that his “contribution to the game was unbelievable”.