Having travelled to Wyggs a couple of weeks earlier and beaten
them narrowly Belper were expecting a tough challenge and prepared themselves
for a grueller.
Belper kicked off with the wind behind them and set on with attacking the
visitors defence in both attack and defence. with only five minutes gone Belper
took the lead with fast hands in the backs moving the ball wide to Booth who
stepped through a gap in the defensive line and then spun the ball wide to
the on running Clay to dive in at the corner, Blackwell slotted the conversion
to give Belper a 7-0 lead, things got better when Inns went on a barracking
run crashing through several tackles setting up the ruck with England and
Watson in close company, Meakin spun the ball wide to the backs and out to
Watson who sprinted 20 yards stepping past the full back to score near the
post, Blackwell converted 14-0.
Wyggs came back at Belper but found their influential center carried off when
tackled hard in midfield and not being able to recover from a knock to the
head, Belper then from the restart bossed the scrum with Omara stealing the
put in and with ball moving wide the ruck getting setup out wide, Wyggs defensive
line had been drawn all over the place and Blackwell collected the ball at
10 popped to Tennick then looped him to collect the ball and spin it wide
for Clay to dart into the corner 19-0, Not to be outdone moments after the
kick Watson collected the ball out wide on his wing and then danced back infield
outpacing and ghosting past players in a Jason Robinson style of foot work
that produced the score of the game under the posts, Blackwell slotted to
make it 26-0
Wyggs again tried to rally and started to push Belper but with Holmes and
York working hard on the back row Belper snuffed out the visitors possession,
although the penalty count was rising and after handling on the ground Bid
Blount went from Hero to Villain and was carded and spent 10 minutes in the
sin bin, but despite losing their inspirational capitain Belper rallied and
added a further score, this time Bennion cutting a great line in attack and
dancing past 2 defenders to score under the posts give Belper a 31-0 halftime
lead
As the second half kicked off Belper lost the inflential Booth to a calf strain,
But Belper with only 14 on the field nearly scored again with Watson inches
from scoring his hat-trick.
Bid Blount came back from the sin Bin and Cousin Jack replaced Booth, and
it was minutes later Belper extended their advantage further with Tennick
crashing the ball into contact England then took the ball on again, Meakin
spun the ball out from the ruck to Tennick who in turn spun the ball wide
for Clay to finish in the corner after twisting and turning to score to extend
Belper's lead to 36-0
Belper tired a little and Wyggs had long periods of pressure, but with powerhouse
Adams coming on and Woodward adding bite in the forwards Belper rallied and
finished the scoring with Jack Blount scoring a well taken try, following
good work in the forwards from Inns and Yates, battering holes in the visitor
defence and Blount crashed over to score near the corner, Blount then converted
his try to finish the game Belper 43 Wyggs 0
Director of Rugby Boyd praised Belper's work rate but commented they need
to play a much more expansive game to show some of the skills he would have
used 30 years earlier when he was Belper's playmaker