​Rasen edge to win over Belgrave

​The Red and Greens started well but a penalty to Belgrave in front of the posts saw them take a 3-0 lead after only four minutes.

Early, strong maul drives by the Belgrave forwards indicated their possible dominance, and from a lineout a catch and drive was held out by the Rasen cohort, then several pick and go phases, before Belgrave went over for the first try.

Rasen came back strongly and a scrum penalty in front of the posts saw Spen Holvey deliver three points to open Rasen’s scoring.

A mistake by Belgrave at the ruck then saw the ball knocked straight into the hands of Holvey who broke away up the blind side to find almost no- one at home. To gasps from the supporters he seemed to hesitate for a split second, not really believing that he could carry on, expecting to hear the blast of the ref’s whistle. To the supporters’ relief he change into top gear and bounded in under the posts, converting his own try to give Rasen the lead.

Rasen soon put a penalty wide of the posts and half-time would arrive after another penalty had also not brought reward but Rasen 10-8 in front.

To and fro scrums and line-outs early in the second-half eventually meant Belgrave were camped on Rasen’s 10m line and a line-out catch and drive followed by pick and go phases saw Belgrave over for their second. Could this be a turning point for Belgrave?

But powerful phases from the Rasen forwards and accurate inter passing from forwards and backs alike resulted in a penalty which forward determination led to Ben Young bursting over to regain the lead.

By this point Belgrave were running out of substitutes due to injuries and down to 14 and then 13 men due to a yellow card, and Marius Berger went over for Rasen’s third and a seven-point lead.

But with only four minutes left Belgrave rammed their way over the line to reduce​​​​​​​ the arrears to 20-18, ​​​​​​​and the crowd held their breath as the conversion was taken, but went wide.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​