|
Melbourne visited Chesterfield with hopes of another win, although
there were a few changes to the side most notably the absence of
skipper Ian Lucas.
The game started with Melbourne looking the better side, playing the better quality Rugby and this was rewarded by a penalty for James Perry which he converted for a 3-0 lead, however Chesterfield started to fight their way back into the game and following a mix up in the Melbourne midfield they managed to score an unconverted try.
For the first 20 minutes or so of the game the scrums were very even with both sides clearly trying very hard, but Melbourne seemed to wear down Chesterfield and as the half wore on became more dominant. In the line out however Melbourne never really got going and probably won less than half the ball on their own put in.
  
At 5-3 down Robin Claybourn motivated the pack to greater effort and Melbourne regained the lead with a try by James Perry, following a scrum the ball was played out along the backs where it was recycled quickly for Robert Thompson to make a break for the line, he fed the ball to James Perry who scored. 8-5 at Half time.
In the second half most spectators expected Melbourne to pull away but Chesterfield continued to make a fight of it and the only scores were two penalties to Melbourne to one for the home team. A final score of 14-8 to Melbourne.
  
All in all this was a good win but not a great performance, the Melbourne backs looked good but probably didn't get enough ball and the referee did not do Melbourne any favors. Chesterfield tried hard until the end but relied on too many cheap shots in the second half the main targets for these being the Melbourne Scrum and Fly Half.
Melbourne showed a lot of fight and a sign of a good team is that they grind out results when they do not play at there best.
 
 
Team
- Claybourn
- Sibley
- Collin
- Judge
- Sparkes
- Parkes
- Thompson
- Macer
- Devanny
- Fulton
- Watts
- Parkinson
- Ilott
- Thornton
- Perry
- Holden
- Lowson
|
