Melbourne Claim League Title at First Attempt

Melbourne welcomed Newark to Cockshut Lane on a dry and sunny Saturday afternoon. The green&gold focussed on the task to hand in facing a very physical and tough Newark side. Victory would see them claim the league title, being seventeen points ahead of their nearest rivals (Dronfield) with three games remaining.

Melbourne saw a few changes from previous weeks with both second rows AWOL for the decisive game so Harry "Hazza" Stephenson and James "Benny" Benstead took full control of the engine room. Never has a second row pairing been so intimidating. With Jack Fisher unavailable Euan Holden, returning from injury, came back into the lineup and Joe Livesey returned to fullback seeing Stuart and Hancock take the wing berths. The bench comprised Mark Coyne, Ben Dickinson and Andy Martin.

A decisive start was what Melbourne needed and it was a typical bullish display with strong carries and plenty of physicality in the contact evident from both sides. Melbourne edged the initial stages and were dominant in the set piece. As Melbourne worked the ball through the phases a break down the left saw excellent interlink play that freed Joe Livesey as the defenders were drawn in. The fullback worked his way through the covering defence to scored wide right. 5 - 0

If the first try was a show of flowing rugby and individual skill the second was polar opposite. Three minutes after the first score Melbourne secured a line-out in the opposition 22 and the brutal and unrelenting Tom Warren barged and burrowed his way through several fringe defenders to dot the ball down left of the posts for Melbourne's second which was converted by Holden. 12 - 0.

An injury to Oliver Page saw a positional switch as Sam Hancock reverted to scrum half and Ben Dickinson enter the backline. Hancock's impact was immediate as within two phases he attacked the fringe of a ruck and drove through a weak tackle to then step and accelerate beyond the covering defence diverting his run to finish the solo effort under the posts, taking the half time score to 19 -0

The second half saw Newark respond positively and begin to retain the ball and go through simple phases. An infringement by the visitors saw Holden extend the score however to 22 - 0

A period of ten minutes saw Newark throw everything they had at Melbourne and came away with there own score 22 - 5. The effort it had taken to breach Melbourne's defensive line appeared to have worn them out and the green&gold responded to the score with typical offence and began to trouble and hound Newarks defensive line time and again.

The strong running of Oli Saffel saw the powerful centre break two tackles as he drove through the contact and sprinted the extra five meters to touch down for the bonus point try, once again converted by Holden. 29 - 5

Melbourne maintained their discipline and looked to play in the right areas at the right time. Mark Coyne soon took a ball from the lineout and spun, twisted and stretched to dot down for Melbourne's fifth try wide left of the posts. Holden adding the extras 36 - 5.

Melbourne have built a ruthlessness and patience this season that has seen them claim victories and bonus points in the final stages of games. This game was no exception as the final play of the match saw the ball swiftly moved far right and into the hands of Ben Dickinson who sprinted free of the defenders, drawing the final man with a dummy inside and slotting the ball to the supporting Stephenson on his outside for yet another excellent score. Taking the final points tally to 41 - 5.

This result sees Melbourne claim the Midlands 2 League title at their first attempt. The effort, commitment and work that has gone into this achievement should not be underplayed or estimated. It is just the tonic for a sour end to last season but we are far stronger for it and have learnt some very valuable lessons across the course of the last two seasons.

MOTM - C Livesey
TRIES - J LIVESEY, T WARREN, S HANCOCK, O SAFFELL, M COYNE, H STEPHENSON
KICKS - 1 x Penalty, 4 x Conversion
YC/RC - NA