Melbourne beaten by strong Belgrave side

Melbourne Welcomed Belgrave to Cockshut lane for the first time. Belgrave were in 3rd place in the league a couple of places above Melbourne.
Melbourne conceded an early penalty to go down 0-3 after 4 mins and played the rest of the half trying to get the ball off Belgrave. Belgrave controlled territory and possession for the majority of the half, not helped by some missed touches and a mal functioning lineout. Starved of the ball, Melbourne defended stoutly with Kier, Watty and Lowery featuring strongly. Belgrave bullied and intimidated Melbourne and their touch judge with the Belgrave 6 particularly vociferous after the touch judge rightly spotted a foot in touch. The ref coped admirably but his patience was tested. Watty was needlessy pulled back after a tapped penalty (no idea why).
After 28 minutes the Belgrave 4 was yellow carded for a tackle on Snowy as he returned to his own side of the ruck after a turnover. 5 minutes later Will Judge was carded for a reactionary high tackle on the shortest player on the pitch. After only 3 points in the first 30 minutes, 3 Trys then came in quick succession. Belgrave scored from a catch and drive and then again from a missed tackle to go 15-0 up before Melbourne entered the Belgrave 22 for the first time. Melbourne came away with a converted try. Sustained pressure saw a ruck under the posts and the Belgrave 3 was carded for killing the ball. A quick tap penalty was taken and Al Judge scored with Euan converting – Half Time 7-15.
Melbourne started the second half strongly. A superb passage of play started with a lineout, driving maul, the ball being moved left and right through quick phases before Jack Fisher waltzed in near the posts. Euan again converted. Melbourne were certainly starting to play with more confidence. Soon after, Dale Bilson went off with a hamstring injury, to be replaced by the young Joe Stuart.
After 60mins, Belgrave took control with 2 more Trys. Both were simple catch and drives off a lineout inside the Melbourne 22. They were separated by a yellow card for Mark Coyne for a tackle on the Belgrave player whilst he was in the air. This made the score 14-29. Another penalty saw Belgrave extend their lead to 32-14.
Melbourne pushed hard for the last 15 minutes and played some of their best rugby but were undone by the an interception from the impressive Belgrave 15, finished with some football style celebration. This spurred Melbourne on to try and get the losing bonus point for a fourth Try and for the last 5 minutes it was all Melbourne with Belgrave defending stoutly. The Belgrave wing got away with a kick aimed at a Melbourne player. Belgrave conceded a series of penalties inside the 22 (no cards this though?) and eventually a knock on saw the game end.
Melbourne played well in phases against a well organised and intimidatory Belgrave side. Some of the intimidation was rather excessive and not in keeping with the game of rugby, not helped by some of the comments from the side lines. Many thanks for the 2 Belgrave players who came to the Lamb afterwards in keeping with true rugby values. They were made to feel welcome and were gracious in their comments about the Melbourne performance.