Derbyshire Junior Cup Final

Melbourne played in their first final in the Derbyshire Junior cup against a North Derbyshire side that had walked the league and only lost once all year. North Derbyshire are famed for having the best set of backs in the three counties having 'acquired' several players from other local clubs but had been beaten upfront in Melbourne's previous encounters this season.

It was clear on the journey up to Chesterfield that the team was focused and was not going to let North Derbyshire have an easy time. Nearly all the team had suffered from pre match nerves captain Ian Lucas being so Nervous he had lost nearly a stone in weight during the morning.

The pitch at Chesterfield was in good condition and the wind blew across the pitch, North Derbyshire won the toss and Melbourne kicked towards the club house in the first half. A good number of supporters had traveled to the game and for the first time that I can remember we had a match referee and official lines men. (Who caused Melbourne problems)

From the start of the half Melbourne forwards dominated winning two scrums against the head and turning over the ball, but the big surprise was the inability of the North Derbyshire to break through the Melbourne defense great tackling from the backs and back row meant that it was North Derbyshire who were pushed back. Early on Keir Biggins picked up a head wound and had to leave the pitch for a few minutes replaced by Dave Cox. North Derbyshire did have a chance to score from a penalty but missed and and after about twenty minutes Melbourne forward pressure and good tactical kicking from Rob Foster who kept the ball close to the pack, saw North Derbyshire have a scrum 5 meters from their own line,

Melbourne drove them back and they had to touch down from behind their own line, Melbourne packed down again on their own ball and started to drive forward, North Derbyshire collapsed the scrum and a penalty was awarded but this did not stop Ian Lucas picking up and giving the ball to Rob Foster who dived in to score. A try he converted himself,. 7-0 to Melbourne.

North Derbyshire were still confident enough not to kick penalty chances but I don't know what game they thought they were in but they really were not in control enough to offer up 3 points.

Up until half time Melbourne really did turn up the heat, North Derbyshire were rattled and Melbourne should have really scored again, there were several good breaks close to the forwards and one try was ruled out for a forward pass.

At half time the team talk was positive and Melbourne really thought they could win the game, in fact if they could just keep going as they had in the first they would.

Andy Woodcock came on for Pete Welsh who had been superb in the fist half, and this did seem to unsettle Melbourne a bit. Melbourne continued to defend well and for the first 15 minutes of the half kept North Derbyshire at bay without Melbourne really looking like they would score. The North Derbyshire were awarded a penalty for hands in a ruck which this time they decided to kick 7-3. From this point on North Derbyshire began to turn up the heat The Melbourne's packs legs began to tire and they seemed to be less dominant in the tight.

Melbourne suffered at the hands of the assistant ref when Pop Lakin was adjudged to have stamped on a North Derbyshire player and was sin binned for 10 minutes. This was a poor decision as it seemed to most people that Pop was the only player not stamping on anyone at the time. Again Cox coming on as replacement.

Eventually North Derbyshire had a scrum in Midfield in the Melbourne half and they won the ball comfortably and broke down the blind side to score a try which they did not convert 7-8 to North Derbyshire.

Shortly afterwards North Derbyshire Scored again this time wide on the right 7-13.

Melbourne then really woke up again and some how managed to get some power back in to the set pieces, They started to disrupt the North Derbyshire scrums again and drove a series of mauls into the North Derbyshire half, one of which went to within 5 meters of the line only for the ball to be turned over just when it looked like North Derbyshire had given up. Melbourne's most effective weapon was most likely to be a 5 meter scrum or line out close to the North Derbyshire line but somehow the pressure did not produce one.

The last 5 minutes of play was breathless with North Derbyshire unable to find touch and Ashley Stringer making several runs. In the end the ref signaled the last play much to North Derbyshire relief but not before North Derbyshire's 'New Zealander star' completely fluffed a simple kick to touch that would have ended the game. In the end North Derbyshire did find touch to win 13-7.

The greatest surprise of the match was not the forward dominance of the Melbourne pack but how effectively Melbourne snuffed out North Derbyshires free running backs, despite some fancy dan flicks they never really looked like scoring from open play and their two tries were from inside the Melbourne 22.

Every member of the Melbourne Team played out of their skins and gave 110% but Pop Lakin stood out in the pack, and Rob Foster stuck to he game plan at flyhalf ,but the man of the match was nominated by North Derbyshire as Keir Biggins, and nobody can disagree with this.

This performance clearly shook North Derbyshire who admitted this was their hardest game of the year, it is a good basis for Melbourne to go forward from and if we trained as well as we did this week through out the next season promotion and future finals would be assured.

Team

1. Clayborn
2. Lakin
3. Collins
4. Judge
5. Welsh
6. Macer
7. Biggins
8. Lucas
9. Fulton C
10. Foster
11. Goodyear
12. Sylvestor
13. Ilott
14. Watts
15. Stringer
16. Lowson
17. Cox
18. Parkinson
19. Woodcock
20. Bel
21. Brown