Melbourne beat Loughborough and survive howling gale

Match report - Matt Derbyshire

Conditions: Sunny yet Arctic with a "stiff" 50mph breeze.
Pitch: Like a carpet of green spring grass

Points of note: Tommy "Gas Man " Howard and Mike "Tyson" Lowery.

Report:
From the kick off the ugly weather conditions reared their head as a hanging, swerving kick resulted in a knock-on by Melbourne and a scrum was set on halfway. Once again the underweight Melbourne pack knew a tough day's scrummaging was ahead of them as they faced some sizeable individuals. Thankfully, technique prevailed and Melbourne were able to hold their own, even throwing some pressure on the home team as the game progressed.

On the sidelines, the talk was of the presence our new mascot "Melbourne Max" whose appearance is surely one of the reasons for our recent turn in fortune and positive performances. It cannot be a coincidence that since his arrival results have turned our way. (or is it Max's owner not playing?)

Loughborough wanted to turn the game into a dog fight right from the start and were pretty handy in the tight but Melbourne's defence has been a real strength in weeks and they were able to turnover ball in a number of key moments with Matt "velcro hands" Smith and Will "show me the ball" Judge being at the fore of some of these.

Melbourne were happy to soak up forward pressure in the opening quarter but were quick to exploit space when opportunities presented, Joe Stuart and Tommy Howard making telling runs through the Loughborough defence.

From a turnover it was a piercing run from Melbourne's 8 that created space for quick hands to Tommy H who turned his opposite man inside out before putting on the afterburners to see his way past the covering fullback and swan dive his way over for his first try of the season in his first outing. Holden converted from the left touchline to add a valuable 2 points. It could have been two in ten minutes for the fastest man in Melbourne but for an adjudged forward pass (which was somewhat debateable and fortunate for Loughborough).

The next try came in general play as Rob H broke through the defence to go over for Melbourne's second try.

Halftime: 0 - 12

The second half saw Loughborough pressure Melbourne for a tough 15 mins but were unable to find a way through. Melbourne then went down the other end of the pitch to win a penalty which looked to be straight through the middle until the wind took it narrowly wide left. Following sustained pressure Loughborough earnt their try through their shimmying stand-off who added the extras.

This galvanised Mebourne who "upped the gears" and took the game back to loughborough and decided to set camp up in their 22. Following some superb mauling and carriers, including a sublime angle from Devon at centre, Will "Top Try Scorer" Judge bulldozed his way over. It is also a poignant note that at full tilt Morris (the debt-collector) picked a peach of a moment to scoop the ball off the floor before setting up play for the score and conversion.

Following this score the game became a bit spicy with the loughborough nine seeing a yellow card for a delibrate trip on Page, who received a bloody nose for his efforts, and Mike (Tyson) Lowery receiving yellow for attempting to punch the air. The ref obviously did not see the dangerous play preceeding this or the 30 seconds holding onto the ball as Lowery attempted to turnover. All in all a win was a win in horrid conditions.

Loughborough played well and competed in all facets of the game. Melbourne needed to maintain their standards from prior to christmas and dig it out.

Overall a pleasing result.

Man of the Match - Rob Hollingsworth

Injury updates - Pagey bloody nose, Pop poorly fingers, Rob H stamped on head, Coyne elbowed windpipe, "Little" Judge bruised gonads and "bad" wrist and Tommy H calf cramp!