8th November – Mids 5 East (North)
Melbourne 16 - 18 Rolls Royce
Rolls-Royce picked up their first away league win of the season at local rivals Melbourne. The result came down to a series of missed conversions from both teams with the rub of the green (or rub of the mud in this case) falling in the away team’s favour.
With a previously arranged early kick off time of 12.30pm, Rolls-Royce arrived at Melbourne an hour before kick off concerned that they were already late starting their usual pre-match routine. 25 minutes later they were still waiting for Melbourne to turn up and open the changing rooms. The away team put this minor inconvenience to one side and immediately set about getting prepared for what is always a massive game against their old foes.
The game started at a fast pace with both sides obviously wanting to stamp their mark on the match early doors. Royces skipper Ranft once again lost the toss and ended up playing with the wind 1st half. After the first 10 minutes Royces settled in to the game and looked dangerous counter attacking from Melbourne’s wayward kicks down field. From one of these kicks, full back Duncan Myres beat the first 3 defenders inside his own half and fed centre Loz Betty who in turn drew his man and put impressive winger Alec Jardine in to space down the left. After beating his opposite man the Royces flyer put in a grubber kick, which turned the Melbourne full-back in his own 22. The ball got stuck in the mud, which allowed the full back to drop on the ball and get up off the floor only to be met by 3 Rolls-Royce chasers who forced the turn over. Following a few quick rucks in mid field which drew in the Melbourne defence, fly-half McLaughlin was able to duck through the first up tackler and feed an inside ball to Jardine who turned from creator to poacher to run in un-opposed just to the right of the posts to leave an easy conversion for the left footed McLaughlin. Easy it may have been but McLaughlin’s faultless form of the previous week deserted him and he hooked it right of the posts. Mel 0- 5 RR.
McLaughlin followed this up with a penalty miss but the away team continued to pile the pressure on. Royces returned to the Melbourne 22 following a penalty conceded by the home team. McLaughlin drilled the ball in to touch at the corner, Sanderson took the lineout clearly and Royces changed the point of attack at the lineout to nullify the organised Melbourne defence who successfully pulled Sanderson to the ground following his clean take. With the ball under control at the back of the maul, prop Ady Gregory barged his way over the line for a well worked forwards try to extend the lead to Mel 0 – 10 RR. McLaughlin again failed with the conversion, although this time it was from way out on the left.
Melbourne then fought their way back in to the game and RR gave away some silly penalties and once again decided that they knew better than the referee. Melbourne converted one of these chances to close the gap Mel 3 – RR 10. The Melbourne pack then began to pick up steam and put pressure on Royces at the base of the scrum and around the fringes. This resulted in an error by the away team whilst in possession with Melbourne hacking through from the half way line and out pacing the RR scramble defence to touch down in the corner. The tough conversion was missed,
Mel 8-10 RR
The rest of the 1st half turned in to a war of attrition with the Melbourne pack doing what they do best, keeping RR on the back foot around the fringes but the away team defence stood strong and managed to force turnovers through their organised defence and some big hits from man of the match Luke Daigneault. Royces more expansive game plan was also kept in check by the home team who defended well out wide on their narrow, boggy pitch. The only other score of the first half was a sweetly struck penalty from Paul McLaughlin who temporarily found his kicking boots. Half time Mel 8-13 RR.
As anticipated, Melbourne started the 2nd half strongly and made their way down in to the RR 22. Once again however, the RR fringe defence kept out wave after wave of 1-dimensional Melbourne attack and patience and aggression in the tackle area continued to force turnovers allowing RR to clear their lines. This pattern continued for most of the game, RR working hard to relieve the pressure only to give away the ball through lack of concentration or poor discipline in the Melbourne half. Eventually Melbourne were able to pick up a penalty with 20minutes to go making the score Mel 11 – 13 RR.
RR then woke up again and romped down field in to the Melbourne half, backs and forwards combining with some great handling in the rapidly deteriorating conditions. After continued pressure and patience through the phases, the ball was swung wide and a well-worked move finished off impressively by Centre Loz Betty wide on the left. The tough conversion was missed Mel 11-18 with 7 minutes left to play.
RR collected the re-start comfortably and once again set about stringing the phases together through backs and forwards. However, it only took one lapse in concentration and Melbourne pounced on to a spilled ball and counter attacked with some excellent handling of their own. Showing determination and will to win, the home side pressurised the RR line and were awarded a scrum 5 metres out. Melbourne, who had admittedly had the upper hand in the scrum all game, turned on the pressure and started to take the RR pack backwards. The RR front row lost their footing in the muddy conditions and the scrum collapsed just short of the line, hooker Mike Brown’s leg getting trapped under the pile up which is likely to keep him out for some time. The referee was obviously able to see clearly enough to award a try to the home team, much to the surprise of the on looking players from both teams. Mel 16-18 RR with the conversion to come.
The try was just to the right of the posts, almost exactly where RR scored their opening try. The ground under foot must have been particularly boggy in that spot as the Melbourne kicker also made a hash of it and sent the ball wide. RR played out the final minutes forcing a turnover near the half way line and booting the ball to touch.
Final Score Melbourne 16 – 18 Rolls-Royce.
A tough away win, which on the whole, was deserved as much for organised and aggressive defence as for attempting to play an expansive game out wide.
Team: Myres (7), Blackhurst (7), Betty (8), Barnes (8), Jardine (8), McLaughlin (7), Poole (7), Ranft (7), Brown (7), Gregory (8), Taylor (8), Lee (7), Daigneault (9 MoM), Nithsdale (7). Subs: Greenhalgh (7) (for Blackhurst 65 mins), Gormley (for Brown 78 mins), Turner – didn’t bother to turn up