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League - 16th September 06
De Aston , Market Rasen
Market Rasen RFC 26 v 7 Mellish RFC
Mellish Line up: Fretwell, Wetherall, Harris, Mason (c), Moorehead, Boulter, Williams, Bunton, Cocking, McConnell, Bratley, Myers, Waldon (vc), Wheldon, Smith, Butcher, Revil, Hancock
Tries: Fretwell, Hancock
Conversions: Mason
Pens: Mason (2)


The 3rd league game of the season saw Mellish travelling to play the away game against West Bridgford. Knowing of the outstanding rivalry between the two teams, it was inevitable that this was not going to be pretty.

From the 1st blow of the whistle, Mellish dominated the opening exchanges up front making good yardage with plenty of fierce driving mauls and good strong running from the pack. 10 mins into the 1st half, West Bridgford gave away a penalty to which Mason slotted the ball to take the 40 yard kick between the posts making the score 3-0 to Mellish. Mellish continued to dominate up front from the resulting kick off only for Bridgford to launch a counter attack with a break away try against the run of play. The try seemed to stir Bridgford into action and they went 11-3 up after two successful penalty attempts.


In the second half, the pressure was on to try and claw back the lost points. Once again Mellish dominated the game in the opening minutes driving forward and gaining yards through the pack. Bridgford responded by forcing the driving maul to the ground which resulted in a penalty that again, was successfully taken by Mason, taking the score to 11-6. WB didn't take to kindly to this course of action and once again launched an attack on Mellish and with plenty of excellent handling by the backs, managed to up the score line considerably by scoring a number of tries in quick succession.

With the pressure well and truly on, Mellish attempted to take control of the game again in the last 20 mins. Strong running from Matt Williams resulted in two tries being disallowed after the big flanker had crashed over the line. . Simon Bunton also making strides from the base of the scrum offloading to Andy Fretwell who surged over the line with two Bridgford players hanging onto him, the conversion was added making. Again Mellish attacked through the forwards and after several more attacks on the Bridgford line, substitute Phil Hancock crashed over in the corner to score. Making the final score a little more respectable.

In the 1st 20 mins and the last 15 mins of the game, the performance given by the team was outstanding, however we need to remain focused throughout the full 80 mins. We have proven that we can play the kind of rugby that has the potential to beat sides like West Bridgford, we can take away the fact that we are the only team in the league that has so far managed to breach the WB line. That in itself is a major achievement and we must take the positives of this game forward to ensure that we win the next league game.