Melton up to third after seven-try spectacular against Wellingborough

A dazzling seven-try display from Melton RFC pushed them up to third place in the Midlands 1 East table.

The two sides had not met for many years so the visitors were a bit of an unknown quantity.

Wellingborough had some very large forwards but they had no answer to the power of the Melton pack and the speed and guile of their backs.

Playing down the slope with a strong gusting wind, it took a while for Melton to settle, especially as Wellingborough started confidently with some real menace in their attacks.

Both sides looked for the breakthrough as they strung phases together but it was the home side who struck first when the ever reliable Dan Wakefield took a lineout ball to set up a well coordinated forward drive and rumbled over the line for Leon Gormley to crash over.

Not 10 minutes later, exactly the same thing happened again when Lee Miller took a fine line out catch and Kieran Stone was the beneficiary when he scored out wide, Matt Cox striking a sublime conversion for 12-0.

Wellingborough were stung into a reply and they spun the ball wide to their dangerous backs to score from a simple overlap.

There was an immediate response from Melton, though. Kieran Bugby took the restart, the ball was flicked on to Gareth Collins and he flat-footed his opposite number with some dazzling footwork.

Slick passing gave Harvey Green enough room to dive over in the corner, with Cox stroking the conversion between the posts.

The final score of the first half was a real statement of intent by the home pack.

Having gained the ascendancy in the set piece, they spurned the opportunity for an easy three points from a penalty. Instead Marcus Badham chose a set scrum and they simply shoved the heavier Wellingborough pack back with an impressive drive to give Bugby a straight forward try for a lead of 24-5.

The second half continued with the same level of intensity from both sides with Wellingborough having the edge at times.

However, Melton grabbed the next score when a Wellingborough scrum was driven back, giving Chris Rose, on for Duncan Lennox, a simple chance to dive over from close range.

Some poor tackling allowed the Wellingborough number eight to get a deserving try for all his efforts.

Then Stone showed a remarkable pace and skill as he took a crash ball, brushed off some half-hearted tackles for his second score.

Wellingborough started playing with some real adventure and were duly rewarded when the full back, playing at scrum half, darted through a gap to score.

But the visitors then had a flanker yellow-carded for persistent offsides.

The referee awarded a penalty try to Melton when a massive drive left the visitors in complete disarray, Cox converting.

Melton visit league leaders Newbold on Saturday.

Melton RFC: Matthews, Green, Prior, Collins, Warwick, Cox, Lennox, Brookes, M Badham, Stone, S Badham, Wakefield, Miller, Bugby, Gormley, Rose, Osborne, Newman.