Belper Blitz crushes Barton

After a disappointing result against Dronfield last week Belper welcomed Barton Under Needwood in the 2nd round of the RFU Junior Vase. There were a few changes to personnel made this week with the return of Worthington, Gray and Rice, however in return Inns and Holmes were missing from the pack and O'Gorman in the backs.

Coach Barden stressed the need for structure in the Belper game this week and was happy with the intensity and atmosphere in the pre game warm up.
The game kicked off with Belper receiving the Ball, with the sun glaring down, the ball was spilled by the Belper forwards and the first scrum of the day came into the fore. Yorke, Dyer and Hayward quickly rose to the occasion on the front row, disrupting any stability that Barton had in their scrum.

A tight passage of play ensued with a number of errors from both teams resulting in some unsightly rugby. It was around these fringes that Belper strayed offside in the home 22 and gifted Barton an easy penalty in front of the posts, which was scored. Belper did not let their heads drop, knowing that it was down to sloppy play that the score was as it was. Belper continued to pressure Barton, who were here to try and take a Belper scalp. With Barton pushing towards the Belper 22, Wilson spotted an opportunity to intercept the ball from the Barton backs and duly ran the length of the pitch to touch down for Belper's first. This seemed to boost Belper who upped their game further and continued to pile pressure onto Barton. It was only Barton's last ditch defending that was keeping them in the game. Dakin charged his way forward into the Barton defence setting up Hayward, who crashed across the line with 3 players hanging on to him, only for the match official to judge the ball as being held up, this was then closely followed by Blount crossing the line for what seemed a certain try, however this again was disallowed due to the number of Barton bodies obstructing the view of the ball.

England was also denied as he crashed in the corner but was adjudged to have stepped into touch. The Belper backline started to come into their own as they started punching holes into the Barton lines, Worthington and Blount were able to display their speed and guile as they broke through tackle after tackle, to set up well worked tries for Wilson and Meakin. Naylor and Meakin worked well at 9 and 10 providing a solid platform for Belper to work from.

Barton continued to compete with Belper and did not let their head drop and worked their forwards well, however the Belper pack thwarted them at every turn with some massive hits put in by Dakin and Matthews. Dakin seemed to have quite a bit of joy stealing ball from Barton's four man lineout, which Naylor and Meakin were able to use to their advantage.

Man of the Match Matthews was also rewarded with a nice try after working tirelessly at 7, smashing and disrupting Barton at every turn. Hayward made a great break from the back of a maul to smash through several players, again Hayward crossed the line, however a last ditch suicide tackle from the smallest person on the pitch ensured that Hayward had another try held up.

Following some tight play at the breakdown Watson, Rice and Yorke crashed into the Barton line to set up a rolling maul, Dyer commanded the maul well feeding England, who peeled off the back and dived over for a well taken try.

Gray came on in the centres after Naylor went off with an injury, immediately he showed the Barton backline his pace and made some mazy runs with close support from Blount and Worthington. Barton began to crumble under the Belper pressure with several tries scored in quick succession with Wilson getting another two and Gray sealing it with a brace of his own. Again Hayward pressured the try line, however rather than be held up again he decided to set up a ruck and present the ball which was efficiently slowed down by Barton enabling their defence to regroup. Blount managed 4 conversions and 1 penalty to bring the final score to 66-3 to Belper as they remain on the road to Twickenham.

Belper host East Retford in the league this week. Kick off is at 2.30pm, All are welcome to come and lend your support to the team.