Burton 3s 20 - 36 Melbourne 2s/3s

Trys - Bilson 2, Brown, Mallett, Wiseall, Wittaker. 3 conversion Bilson

Melbourne Stags have not played in 2017, we did have a home double header against Paviours on the fixture list but  a Thursday night cry off, put us on the hunt for a fixture and Burton 3rd obliged, its always a bit of a pleasure to go to Burton, not too far away and great mini stadium and club house, we were lucky enough to be on the main pitch
 
When we arrived there were already 24 Burton players warming up and since their 2nds had not a game this was a worry, but they looked like a proper 3rd team with a blend of youth and experience  and overall a bit larger than us.
 
Looking a the fixture lists it looked like both teams had similar records
 
We had managed to get a good team together (but missing a prop as Bob is above the arctic circle this week working a decoy for green peace) we welcomed some significant returns, ex colt Sam Rooth was back after a few years out, and Dale Bilson was scheduled to play his 11th minute if rugby this year and his first for Melbourne
 
On the morning of the game we lost 3 players all with surnames beginning with A (a bit more worrying if next week we lose all the B’s as we had 4 of them) but we picked up Simon Brown who got to play no8 when captain Tim chose not to, C Whittaker was a risk as it was great to have him back from London but a shock to find that our fly half was now a vegetarian and this might limit his effectiveness at the breakdown.
 
The starting team was Ballington, captain bell , Luke/Stuart from Burton (thanks Burton) Will Butler and Jake Collard Lawson Rooth and Brown, Webbi, Whittaker, Bilson and Wiseall, Mallett and Hudson on the wings and the flexible Moorecroft at Full Back. We had Nickk Parkes as a sub and Walker and Dudders to come when they got through the traffic. (Sparkes was still stuck in it)
 
We kicked off and it looked (and proved to be) like a very good an even contest, Burton had a good and more direct style not putting the ball out wide, but with a few very big and direct runners who were hard to put down, but who were not in the first flush of youth so were not going to run the entire length of the pitch, on the other hand Melbourne were clearly nippier and more expensive and had the pace to make clean breaks. Burton were a god team to play against they could all tackle and they could all catch etc if Melbourne were to win they were going to have to earn it.
 
After the first 5 minutes where Melbournes much lighter scrum was under a bit of pressure and Burton had the bulk of the ball, without looking like scoring we broke out , and from a scrum quick hands saw Dale Bilson showing great pace run in a try, which he converted him self, 7-0
 
Burton were the bigger heavier team and we needed to avoid giving them clean ball inside our 22 as they could probably pummel their way over but sadly we did, we decided not to challenge in a line out on the 22 which gave the heavier Burton Pack the chance to drive on and on and one of their large experienced players drove over aggressively to make it 7-5 after 14 minutes
 
It was clear that Burton had what Melbourne don’t, a couple of older players who had played at a much higher level but were still turning out in the 3rds and they were having quite an influence on the game.
 
Melbourne began to up their game, I am not sure if we gave an extra few % of Burton tired , they were certainly a bit less mobile than us, but we began to easily hold our scrummage ball and exert ourselves a bit more in the forwards
 
There was a good blend of players in the Melbourne team the Agressive in your face players, Danny L, Chris Wiseall, Chris Whittaker, and some pacy classy ones such as Dale Arron  and some Link up ones, Will Bulter , Jake Collard Webbi etc
 
Jake Ballington was making tackles on wingers all the time and kept bundling them into touch. I think everyone was seeing the ball, Henry and Josh on the Wings etc and staying warm on a cold day. And the handling and last tackles by Melbourne were pretty exemplary
 
Webbi’s passing was on point
 
The period up  until Half time was Melbournes, first of all we won a number of scrums and line outs in the Burton 22 with Danny chasing through the line and harassing the Burton Full back, and then from the line out safely taken by Will and a number of drives by forwards Chris Wiseall popped up to show everyone how to do it by driving over from a Yard 14-5 (conversion Bilson)
 
And then a bit of physiological blow for Melbourne, from a line out caught again by Will, we drove the maul and Simon Brown, relishing being no 8 got over the line, followed by a great conversion by Bilson 21- 5
Half time and what a good half that had been, competitive and fair with a good ref and probably a deserved score line due to Melbourne extra incisiveness. The message at half time was a keep going this is great one from Steve Bell and don’t let Burton get the ball 5 yards out. The team was very supportive of each other and everything was very constructive
 
At Half time Dudders came on for Jake and Nick Parkes for Sam Rooth, sam had playyed well in the first half and it was really good to see him starting to go on bullocking runs and I have not heard the cries of Rooooooooth as players followed in his wake looking for an off load for 4 or 5 years.
 
2nd half kicked of an after 4 minutes, Henry got the ball put in a good cross kick, chased it up himself, the ball came to Chris Whittaker and we scored 26-5, Dale decided to take off his kicking boots and there were no more conversions
 
We then traded tries with Burton,, first good recycling saw the same big chap (or his twin) score again 26 10 and then Danny Lawson made a great break and fed Dale Again to make it 21-10
 
Jake Walker finally turned up with 20 mins to go and took his place at prop, this caused and odd reaction from Burton who asked to go to unopposed scrums (given that Jake had replaced a Burton Player), maybe his hairy knees intimidated them.
 
On 24 minutes Burton scored again, via the same means, 31-15 if, Burton had managed to kick the conversion they would have been within two tries and might have been able to push on for a win, given the balance of play, but they missed and with 16 min to go still needed 3 scores which was probably beyond them.
 
The game was secured on the 29 minute of the 2nd half when on the far side of the pitch and from our own half Josh Mallett set off on a run down the wing from broken play and scored 36-15
 
Then came one of the more amusing moments of the game when the large experienced Burton prop called Jake Ballington a chubster (in the style of Katie Hopkins off of the Daily Mail) and Jake said a few choice words back and lost a penalty, and from now until the final whistle things became a bit factious without being dirty, and the ref seemed to lose a bit of patience.
 
Burton had a good scrum half who made the odd clean break and also a winder/fullback who was vary pacy and on 31 minute he got the ball and for the first time in the game ran around Melbourne to make it 36-20
 
Jake Collard went on for Dale in the backs and Henry went to inside centre.
 
The last 10 minutes were seen out, final score 36-20 to Melbourne and really good fixture, on another day the result could have gone the other way, Burton probably had the 3 or 4 best players on the pitch But Melbourne had more pace and the capability to play as a team, Burton thought our back row and 9, 10, 12, 13 15 combo appeared as if they had played together for years, (which is not entirely true but a nice compliment)
 
The ref was great and the both teams were very fair, thanks to Burton for the loan of the props and the use of the very nice club house.
 
Man of the match, tough one in  a game when everyone played well , solid front 5, great backs, etc, but the MVP committee agreed that it was either, Webbi, Dale, Wiseall or Danny L and we are going with Chris Wiseall, this week. I suspect Dale did not get is as he appears to make everything look effortless despite the tries and conversions.
 
Hope everyone can play at Notts Casuals next week in the Pennant, please be about and bring a friend/brother etc