It was the 1 st round of the EDF National Cup and Mellish had the unenviable task of making the trip to Leicestershire to challenge Old Newtonians to the next round. It seemed that from the 1 st blow of the whistle the Mellish forwards showed their intend on winning this round, by bombarding the home pack with a series of rucks and mauls with Old Newtonians having no answer to the initial onslaught. The pressure was on and Old Newtonians appeared to be struggling under the pressure and conceded a penalty 35 yards out. The proceeding penalty was successfully taken by Mason resulting in a 3-0 lead.

Mellish received the kick-off cleanly and Sean McConell kicked the ball deep into the opposition's territory.

Mellish subsequently gave away a penalty 2 metres from the try line, where old Newtonians took a quick tap and their player ran straight into big Rich Moorehead! A shocking referee's decision led to Rich being sin binned much to the bemusement of Mellish players and supporters.

Mellish were now down to 14 men and still managed to dominate the exchanges, especially up front in the scrums. Old Newtonians were defending for large periods & the pressure told in the end with Wayne Henson diving in at the corner for a deserved try on his comeback game, Mason successfully converted the try to take Mellish to a 10-0 lead. Old Newtonians scored a converted try & another try in quick succession.

With 5 minutes remaining of the 1 st half. Mellish were awarded a scrum 30 meters out, which resulted in Welsh Ryan scoring from a pushover try capping off an excellent individual performance. Half time score 15-11 to Mellish.