Because the fixture had been postponed two
weeks previously, due to a waterlogged pitch, Melbourne 1sts were forced to field a side
against Rolls Royce. The consequences of not doing so would have been a
two-point deduction. Unfortunately, most of the club were at Deano’s stag do at
Doncaster Races, so a barrel-scraping exercise was put in place.
Match Report
Captain Steve Bell had 16 names on paper,
but only 13 turned up in time for kick off. Many of them were third-teamers, so
expectations weren't exactly high. The joked objectives for the game were to
score and to keep Rolls Royce below treble figures. Well at least we managed
50% of what we planned to do...
Royces' game plan was simple but effective -
give the ball to the giant number 7 (he wore that number because that's his
height) who would then run through the entire Melbourne team and score. At lineouts, their
plan was slightly different - the giant number 7 would jump and win every
lineout then let someone else have the ball for a minute or so.
In actual fact, the scoreline doesn't reflect
how well Melbourne
did. For long passages of play, they rucked, mauled and tackled well. Unfortunately
that would then be followed by a breakdown of concentration, which was well
punished. If only England
could learn something from that...
The most comic of these was the arrival of
Keir. When his car arrived, Steve excitedly shouted to the whole team that our
saviour was here - the whole team then watched Keir park, climb out of his car
and run over to the pitch while Royces took their penalty and strolled through
our backline to score.
The arrival of a 14th man did
make a big difference. Keir went in the centres and tackled well, making Royces
find alternative paths to the try line.
I would love to give a blow by blow account
of the game, but can't remember much more than looking at the back of our
posts.
Overall, Melbourne could be proud of the effort and
commitment levels put in, despite taking one hell of a beating.
End result: Melbourne Barrel Scrapers 0 - 92 Rolls Royce
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