Conditions: Sunny (shorts and sunglasses weather as executed by Tony Day in his pre-match garb) with Strong Cross Wind
Pitch: Spectacular (but needs a roller on it)

Points of note: Kier "Sonny-Bill" Biggins, Chris "The Rage" Purce, Will "Backchat" Judge, Rob "Angry-man" Hollingsworth

Report:
Melbourne welcomed Ashbourne to Cockshut Lane with the Grand Marquee erected to its full glory and beer and beef baps in full flow before, during and after the game. The local deby and league fixture had an extra incentive in the form of the Geoff Crocker Memorial Cup.

Touch running duties were undertaken by Tim, never an easy job especially with over opinionated Ashbourne "spectators" a few inches behind him!

First Half
With the whistle sounded Melbourne fielded the kick-off, great pressure by the chasers saw the ball knocked into touch by Ashbourne as the greens started brightly.

Melbourne continued to dominate field position, the early contact exchanges and worry Ashbourne with strong runs from Biggins, Hollingsworth, Pop and Big Judge.

Melbourne's forwards were imposing themselves well in the game. A typically powerful run from Biggins through a mass of bodies up to Ashbourne's 5m line was stopped short of the tryline but Kier "Sonny-Bill" Biggins perfected a great run with an equally beautiful offload to the supporting Mark "Pop I missed the key facts again - sorry" Coyne whose superb momentum and angled line of support took him over for a well worked try. Converted by Holden (7-0).

The team had anticipated a competitive encounter and were enjoying the upper hand in the first ten minutes. Discipline and composure were key with Melbourne attacking well with ball in hand and attacking space. With Fish tearing up the pitch on a number of occasions. Sadly the game would not continue to enjoy the early free flowing rugby as a deliberate stamp by the Ashbourne prop saw an immediate red issued by the referee. Reduced to fourteen Ashbourne tightened up and worked on damage limitation, opting to utilise a combination of the boot and cross wind to clear their lines. Euan slotted the resulting penalty for a 10-0 lead.

A feature of game was the stand out performance of Chris "The Rage" Purce who constantly made telling tackles and disrupted most rucks that were formed. Ashbourne targeted the fiery irishman with cheap shots but (with the help of his side kick the Angry or should that be sympathetic and considerate Geordie) never responded to the unwanted attention.

Ashbourne attempted a near 15 man maul in the final minute of the first half but solid defence prevented danger and a penalty to Melbourne ended the first half.

Second Half
With Melbourne looking to utilise the conditions and pressurise Ashbourne through scrum and lineout the second half start with more of a limp and whimper than the high tempo the greens were looking for.

With stoppages a plenty and the ref penalising any form of chat other than that of the Captains, neither side could grasp the game.

A reversed penalty and further ten meter march for Melbourne led to a period of sustained pressure as Ashbourne scored their first and only points through another team maul. A yellow card was also issued immediately for Will "backchat" Judge as he discussed the score with the ref.

With the scores at 10-7 Melbourne received a much need "boot up the bum" and changes were made. Tommy "gasman" Howard and Tony "get me on" Day entering the fray.

Down to fourteen Melbourne played with a little more sense as they used the wind to pin Ashbourne back and play the game further up the pitch. Strong runs by Fish, Theo, Page and Devon were regularly causing issues for Ashbourne but often broke down and were short of support.

It was from a driving maul that Melbourne secured the next try as Purce directed from the back and carried the ball over for a score.

Frustration was brimming as Melbourne pressed hard for further scores but the final piece never fell into place and penalties and mistakes lead to Melbourne finding it difficult to exit their half. Rob "Angry-man" Hollingsworth tried to verbally and physically bash his way up field rallying the troops but the greens struggled to up the gears and apply pressure in the right areas. Melbourne were almost pleased to hear the final whistle as they battled their way up field.

Final Score 15 - 7

Whilst a win and cup was secured, the whole team felt dissatisfied and we knew that we had not met our standards of recent weeks.