Melbourne avenge earlier season defeat

Conditions: Sunny
Pitch Condition: Sandy with a sprinkling of grit

Points of note: Chris "Yellow" Purce, Matt "Cameo" Derbyshire and a rebranding of Theo "The Cynical Geordie".

Report: A twisted tale of two halves

Talk before the game was centred on Melbourne returning to winning ways, knowing we faced an uncompromising opposition in West Bridgford (WB).

With Smith, D Walker, Mansfield, Day, Bancroft and Howard all unavailable a number of changes were implemented with J Walker regaining the 2 jersey, Stringer taking position on the wing and Derbyshire benching.

First Half
With the whistle sounded Melbourne kicked up field to WB. A good chase by Ashley "Old Man" Stringer pressurised the catcher and set the tempo for Melbourne. The team were braced for a tough encounter and that’s what they got as WB's physicality was demonstrated from the start. Looking to spread play and bring in their centres WB took the game to Melbourne whom, rather unusually, looked a little unsettled.

It was WB who took the first points with a penalty against Melbourne for not releasing the tackler. This was quickly cancelled out by the metronomic boot of Holden converting a penalty of their own, following good work at the breakdown by Mike "Turnover" Lowery.

Composure was key in a frantic and hectic first twenty minutes. Melbourne pride themselves on their defence and WB severely tested the Greens' resolve. A break out wide saw WB squeeze over in the corner for the first try of the game which could not be converted.

The deficit was again cut to two points (8-6) with Holden slotting a penalty for offside , which was a common and consistent occurrence of the entire game by WB.

A yellow card was soon issued for an act of severe cynical play... according to the ref. To joe bloggs and the other spectators this appeared a little harsh as the Melbourne man merely dislodged the ball off the opposition scrum half in a "clear" attempt to take man and ball! A tactical switch saw Stringer replaced by Iliffe who made an immediate impact with a superb turnover feeding a good attacking phase for Melbourne with strong carries by Judge, Pop "Poppa Bear" Lakin and Hollinsworth.

WB soon had their second try following use of their extra man to create an overlap despite the best efforts of Iliffe who made a strong tackle before the ball was eventually grounded.

Spurring Melbourne on, the visitors sought retribution and found it when good hands led to the bullocking run of Hollingsworth touching down out wide despite the attention of the WB winger and fullback. The try was unconverted. (13-11).

Second Half

Following the half-time team talk, Melbourne came out guns blazing. In a reverse of the first half it was the Greens who had all the possession and set both the tempo and physicality levels. Keir "Big Dog" Biggins making an instant impression with strong ball carries and being a general nuisance at the breakdown.

Melbourne's pack were fronting up well with some strong carries from Hollingsworth, Pop, Judge and Mark "I've got 120 minutes in me" Coyne. WBs defence was solid if a little offside on most occasions. It was from a failure to roll away that Melbourne got their next points through Holden once more (13-14).

Soon after WB had a rare attack and despite best defensive efforts and some dodgy blocking from WB’s players a try was awarded out wide restoring their lead (18-14). This was certainly against the run of play with Melbourne having the majority of possession and territory.

Melbourne continued to attack with Morris "peachy offload" Hall making a superb run through space in WBs defensive line to draw and give the ball out wide for Melbourne to kick chase in the open channel.

A yellow card shortly followed for Chris "I like Yellow" Purce for something which no one but the ref had seen including the players themselves. A spear tackle by WB on Mark "Bury Me" Coyne led to a penalty for Melbourne which the ref reversed due to Purce's mysterious antics...he must have one of those faces. With Melbourne down to 14, Matt "Cameo" Derbyshire made a tactical change with Biggins having a ten minute rest whilst Derbyshire added bulk to the pack for the duration of the sin binning. WB kicked for touch to take a lineout in Melbourne's 22. Judge and Derbyshire lifted Hollingsworth for an invaluable lineout steal in their own 22 and relieved the pressure.

Melbourne moved up the pitch looking for points and strong carries by Derbyshire, Lowery and Judge took Melbourne into WBs 22 where yet another infringement gave an opportunity for three more points from Holden (18-17).

Melbourne continued to apply pressure and a despiet being a man down were able to put pressure on both WBs lineout and scrum.

With the clock ticking Melbourne upped the ante and continued looking for holes. WBs discipline was again poor with another penalty added from wide left to give Melbourne the lead (18-20).

In a way the best play was saved for last, as Melbourne were restored to their full fifteen with Purce and Biggins reinstated, Melbourne managed their game well playing the right areas and closing the game out. Defence was once again sound and confidence restored. Melbourne played with authority and purpose until Holden fittingly put the ball out of play for the final whistle to be sounded.

Final Score 18 - 20

The main positive was the ability to close the game out and come away with the win, hopefully learning from last weekend narrow defeat to league leaders Matlock.
Some strong performances inc. Theo, Page, Hollingsworth, Judge and Pop although everyone stood up and played their part.

This was far from a strong performance but in recent weeks Melbourne have consistently delivered effective performances and this was the same again. We will not settle for less than our best however and we shall improve ahead of some tough weeks ahead, we look no further than our next fixture against Casuals at home to raise our standards again and deliver a more rounded performance.

MoTM - Holden
YC - De Vies and Purce