1st XV Results

Melbourne knew going into this game that they were going to have to play alot better that they did in the game played at Chesterfield earlier in the season and also in their last game against Ayelstone Athletic if they were going to get a positive result from this fixture. 

With 6 games left in the league after this one, Melbourne will probably secure the 2nd promotion place if they can win 5 of them including a victory over Dronfield, but they won't manage it if they continue to play as they did in this game.

Having beaten a Boots AXV easily in a friendly fixture just after Christmas, confidence was quite high going into this 3-Counties Plate game with a full strength team available.

This was the first league fixture of the New Year after the three friendly fixtures over the Christmas and New Year period. Melbourne fielded a near full strength 1st XV for this game with Dave Sutheran and Jake Oxspring earning their first full game for the 1st XV this season.

A chance for both sides to blow a few cobwebs out of the system following the Christmas festivities and try a few options before the crunch return in a couple of weeks in the cup.

Instead of holding a training session as previously suggested a fixture was arranged at short notice against a Nuneaton 3rd 15, Although Nuneaton are in a far higher league than Melbourne they sent a team that was a fair match for Melbourne and contained a couple of returning stars from their first team.

With no 1st XV and 3rd XV game this week and with quite a few unavailabilities it was decided that we played an A XV fixture. Shepshed phoned us for a game and as they had beaten our promoted second team last year a tough game was expected.