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Was this the Semi Final or Quarter Final of the Derbyshire Shield, who knows? What we did know was that Belper were at Cockshut Lane determined to show Melbourne why they had won the league and what to expect for next season.
Euen Holden was forced to make a few changes in the backs with Adam Vallis and Dave Middleton coming into the centres and Pete Ilott onto the wing, Keir Biggins returned into the forwards with Nigel Breakwell dropping to the bench.
A strong wind was going to have an advantage in the game, Belper won the toss and allowed Melbourne to play with the wind in the first half.It was clear from the off-set that Belper were fired up for this game and were hitting the rucks and tackles quicker than Melbourne and started to get the ball out to their backs effectively. It was soon clear from the first scrum and lineout that Melbourne had the upper hand, Will Judge time and again taking Belpers front ball and excellent work from the front five taking many balls against the head to give Melbourne good attacking options.
The first score of the day came after Melbourne had been prevented three times from crossing the line, twice from Keir Biggins and once from Ian Lucas after some excellent Belper defence, the last chance saw Belper penalised by the referee for an off side decision, Euen Holden slotted the ball home to give Melbourne a 3:0 lead.
Soon after this Melbourne increased their lead following a scrum just outside the Belper 22, Lucas passed to Devanney who cut through the gap and passed to the unmarked Stringer to score his first try of the afternoon, the conversion was missed but Melbourne were now 8:0 up. To Belpers credit they now started to take the game back to Melbourne and only some desperate tackles kept them from scoring. Belper did think that they had scored when their winger was tackled by Pete Ilott as he dived in to score, the referee ruled he had hit the flag before touching down.
The halftime score finished at 8:0, had Melbourne done enough in the first half with the wind at their backs? I am sure Belper were confident they could pull this slender lead back, Melbourne were going to have to dig deep and change tactics in the second half to reach the next round.
Belper started the second half well and using the wind were keeping Melbourne pegged back in their own 22. Melbourne were reduced to 14 men following a dubious quick line out Keir Biggins put a late tackle in and was shown yellow, the penalty was taken forward to where the ball had landed and Belper kicked the penalty to close the gap to 8:3.
This seemed to be the turning point of the match and Melbourne started to raise their game with forwards and backs testing the Belper defence, the forwards started to hit the rucks with a bit more meaning and were still putting tremendous pressure on the Belper scrum and line.
Melbourne scored their second try of the afternoon following a great rolling maul that had taken Belper towards their own 22, the ball was released to the backs and Ashley Stringer cut into the line at pace to break through the defence ans score under the posts, Holden converting to give Melbourne a 15:3 lead.
Melbourne scored again following a great break up the wing by veteran Pete Ilott, Robert Foster was pulled back by a Belper defender before he could take the pass from Ilott and the referee awarded Melbourne a penalty on the 5mtr line, Bompey Thompson took the penalty quickly and dived over to score in the corner 20:3 to Melbourne.
Holden made a few substitutions with Morriss Hall replacing Vallis and Goodyear and Breakwell replacing Welsh and Thompson. Melbourne wrapped up the game late on when they scored a carbon copy of the try they scored in the first half, Lucas and Devanney setting up Stringer for his 3rd try of the afternoon 25:3.
This was to be the final score, Belper had given Melbourne a good game but with struggling to dominate their own scrums and lineouts were always lacking possesion, a good second half See's Melbourne safely through to the next round.
Melbourne are off to Torquay next week on Tour and then have the prospect of a semi-final on the 3rd May att home to Tupton?????
Who will finish the season as leading try scorer both Stringer and Lucas now have 19 tries each?
The annual Presidents Game is scheduled for Wednesday 7th May with Melbourne 1sts XV hosting a Presidents XV, 18:30 Kick off at Cockshut Lane.
Melbourne Vets XV are playing their first and last match of the season with a game against Burton Vets on the 10th May, the game is at Burton RFC with a 15:00 Kick off.
The support has been fantastic all season and would it would be great to see this continued for the last few games.
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