Melbourne win again

A much changed Melbourne side to the long trip to Stamford and come away with a win.

Report by Matt ''Shakespeare'' Derbyshire

Foreword: To our dear Stamford readers, whom audaciously bemoaned about our match reports and their written style, I say turn away and read no more, clearly you will not appreciate or wish to seek my blatantly biased and acute description of Melbourne's most recent and revered victory. You cannot say i did not warn you...

Conditions: In the words of one Jack Pearce "Heavy Drizzle" with a strong cross wind
Pitch: Excellent condition barr the 20% slope and odd dog poop.

Points of note: Chris "Arse Punch" Purce, Jack "Near Perfect" Pearce, Al "No Hands" Judge

Report:
Stamford welcomed a travel weary Melbourne to their ground. Having previously played out a tight game earlier in the season, a physical and forward orientated match was expected.

Talk before the game was focused on delivering a consisentent level of performance and maintaining our high standards from previous weeks.

Frustrated and Fiery First Half
Melbourne kicked-off against the wind and slope. The first ten minutes went in Melbourne's favour who played with great fluidity troubling Stamford defensively. It became apparent early on that interpretations of offside and release by the tackler were very different between player and referee. Continuously offside from set pieces and entering rucks from the side Stamford were fortunate to avoid conceding numerous penalties. Ludicrously, it was Melbourne who were punished twice for the tackler not releasing, even when an entirely different player was turning ball over. Both penalties were struck wide.

The team had anticipated a tough encounter and with Stamfords confidence buoyed by the referees decisions that's what they got as the visitors looked to slow ball down and impose themselves upon our attack from offside positions. Frustration crept in and a series of physical tackles raised tempers. Composure was key as the game became embroiled in a fiery exchange between packs. One such incident led to a frustrated Purce punching the ground but instead missing and hitting the right buttock of Stamfords 4 who was lying on the ground...much to his amusement!

It was Stamford who claimed the first try of the game which was well converted. This acted as a wake-up call for Melbourne whom were being dragged and dogged into a battle of the packs. The forwards fronted up, playing good phases and creating some good ball for the backline.

It was through a jinking DeVies run and sharp handling that Melbourne scored their first try allowing Foster to burst free out wide and through the defence to seal the score despite the attention of two attempted covering tackles. The conversion was missed 7 -5.

Superb & Steady Second Half

Melbourne came out fighting following an honest half time team talk mainly led by the players who ensured that they came out and stuck to the game plan. Conditions changed with the wind and gradient now to the Green's advantage. Just before half time Tony "The Natural Lock" Day had switched with Jack Pearce seeing a shuffle in the pack with Purce entering the second row.

The next forty minutes was about applying pressure to Stamfords defensive line and maintaining it whilst playing flowing rugby in the right areas.

Physicality was aplenty with Joe "Smash" Stuart and Olly "Punisher" Page making notable hits in defence. Melbourne were making decent headway and playing most of the game within Stamford's half.

A penalty for hands in the ruck was converted by Holden from in front of the sticks making it 7 - 8. The Stamford flyhalf who (to his credit) had managed to get away with being offside for most of the game could not avoid a yellow card for his blatant hands in the ruck in front of the ref.

The next try came from a superb scrum by Melbourne, squeezing the Stamford pack and causing the ball to pop out. Olly "Carpe Diem" Page seized the opportunity (never one to look a gift horse in the mouth) handing off stamfords nine and jinking through the drifting defence to score wide right.

It could have been two in quick succession for Melbourne following a neat interchange and switch between Iliffe and Pearce with the latter cutting a great angle and slicing through the defence with only the wing to beat before opting to offload out of the tackle but to the opposition 15...it was a superb offload but to the wrong colour shirt who was then able to clear the lines.

Theo "twinkle toes" DeVies had made great runs and ground all game and his ability to step off both feet created uncertainty among the Stamford defenders who often committed two or three men to the tackle. Melbourne had taken a firm and assured grip on the game and were making decent inroads.

It was Iliffe who scored the next try with a neat inside cut for a perfect pop pass to the winger giving the strong runner an opportunity to take the ball on at pace and score wide right.

As the game drew to a close Melbourne were reduced to fourteen men as the referee deemed Al "no hands" Judge to have been the tackler as he turned the ball over despite the actual tackler lying in front of him on the ground! Within 5 minutes the unlucky "little" judge was again punished and carded for knocking the ball free of the stamford's scrum half's hands.

Rather than retreat inside themselves, Melbourne were galvanised and went on to create two further superb try scoring opporunties. Tony Day was driven out into touch as he dived for the tryline with mere inches between the decision of try or lineout and again Pagey looked to have secured the four try bonus point when a strong scrum from the seven Melbourne forwards sent Stamford backwards to allow Page to break free from which a series of drives led to a touch down by Page. Despite the celebrations the ref adjudged the player to have knocked on touching down.

With four minutes remaining and against the run of play, it was Stamford that got their second try with the fullback breaking loose from their 22 feeding their wing to run in for a score and conversion. Giving Stamford a loosing bonus point.

Final Score 14 - 18

This week a number of enforced changes, through injury, were made and with a long away trip we knew the fisture would be exceptionally tough but Melbourne are fortunate to have strength in depth and acquitted themselves well with the likes of Sparkes, Pearce and Day performing exceptionally well in a hotly contested match.

Stand out performers were Will Judge and Page who led from the front and created defining moments in the game where opportunity was seized. Joint MoTM.

Whilst no bonus point was secured we, on the whole, were pleased just to have achieved the win. Stamford were well competitive and are a strong team whose league position does not reflect their ability.

We look only to next week, with the aim of improving our overall performance.