Melbourne secure bonus point win and are up to 3rd in the league

Conditions: Sunny with Cross Wind
Pitch: Green, flat and soft under foot

Points of note: Jack "Hand-off" Pearce, Chris "The Nuisance" Purce, Tommy "One Arm" Howard, Chris "Polyfiller" Mansfield, Will "deep-end" Creswell

Report:
Melbourne took to the road for the long trip to Ashby! This was known to be a potential banana skin of a fixture given arguably one of our best performances of the season, in the reverse fixture earlier in the season. The local rivalry and noticable differences in both team selections meant for an interesting week. Chris Mansfield and Will Cresswell came into the squad for their first senior caps and appearances of the season.

Touch running duties were undertaken by Tim, with team medic and hydration specialist duties shared between Derbyshire, Bilson and Cresswell.

First Half
With the whistle sounded Melbourne fielded the kick-off, great pressure by the chasers saw the ball immediately taken into contact.

Melbourne started with real gusto and tempo applying pressure in the early forward exchanges and looking dangerous with the ball moving through the back-line.

Hollingsworth, Pearce and Hall carried the ball well with good support in tow.

With the ball moved wide, a superbly timed run and pass put Pearce galloping through a defensive hole, drawing defenders he executed a beautiful wide pass out to Tommy Howard at full pace who turned the winger inside out before rounding the fullback to score. (0-5)

Melbourne looked dangerous with Pagey, Holden and Fish controlling the game well. Whilst De Vies came through the line well to add to the worries of the Ashby defence.

Melbourne continued to look dangerous and were dominating the game. A penalty against Asby's outside centre presented a scrum just inside their 10m line. With a strong drive Melbourne's marauding eight picked and drove forward batting away the attention of numerous defenders before offloading to the impressive Pearce in support, again taking a nice angle to hone in on the openside winger who was given a massive hand off, allowing Pearce to drive on for the try despite the close attention of Ashby's outside centre. (0-10)

With the early scores on the board, Ashby upped their game and Melbourne were guilty of trying to force things. Ashby responded with a breakaway try following a failed chip through by Melbourne that created an easy overlap for Ashby, who dotted down wide right. (5-10)

Discipline and composure were key with Melbourne handling the threat of the maul well. Al Judge and Hollingsworth disrupted Ashby's ball on almost every occasion with superb displays at the set piece.

Melbourne appeared to loose a little direction and structure as the half drew to close allowing Ashby back into the game. A rare lapse in defence resulted in a simple try for Ashby. (12-10).

Second Half
Honest reflection and words were spoken at half time. Standards had slipped and the players knew that they needed to take the game by the scruff of the neck.

Melbourne looked to impose themselves back in the game. Strong tackles by Hall, Hollingsworth, Page and Purce meant Ashby's attack was back pedalling.

With the ball in hand Melbourne spread the ball wide, executing simple but effective hands allowed Fish to break free and score the first try of the second half. (12-15)

Ashby had definitely increased their intensity especially at the scrum and breakdown but Melbourne's pack never give in and yet again their attitude was faultless with Coyne, Sparkes and Mansfield all contributing well.

The next score came following good pressure and phase play by Melbourne. Ten meters out from Ashby's tryline Captain Holden heard the war cry of Mansfield as he spotted a narrow gap in the opposition defence. A reverse pop saw Holden take a nasty hit but at the same instant put Chris "
Poly filler" Mansfield through the hole for his first senior try on his debut. Fish converted. (12-22)

A heavy hit on holden saw a quick switch of personnel with Bilson coming onto the wing and Devon moving to centre allowing Fish to become the conductor of the backline. However, as is typical, a further injury to both Hall and Peanut Pearce (who were both playing well) meant further positional switches as Derbyshire moved to second row, Devon to blindside flanker and Will (in at the deep-end) Creswell on at flyhalf, with the young colt showing confidence and maturity beyond his years.

Despite the challenging disruption of injuries Melbourne continued to dominate. Ashby couldnt break beyond Melbournes 22 at all in the second half and it was the Green Machine who continued to poke and probe for the try line. Coyne, Derbyshire, Purce and Hollingsworth working through phases before seeing the ball moved on and Tommy"one arm" Howard threatening with pace time after time.

5m out from Ashby's line, a series of pick and go's left a space for Hollingsworth to break through and secure Melbourne's fifth try which was converted by Fish. (12-29)

Yet again a feature of the game was another outstanding performance from Chris "The Nuisance" Purce who never let Ashby settle and constantly disrupted their plans. 1 to 18 played their part in achieving the win. Performances across the board were of a pleasing standard. Each player should be proud of their performance. The Green Machine rolls into another week and all we can do is focus on setting our stall out and delivering a positive display for ourselves, the club and supporters.

MOTM: R Hollingsworth

Final Score 12-29

Next week sees us visit Bakewell who are a form team at the minute and have had some superb results. A tantalising encounter awaits...