Melton RFC First XV salvage pride in Belgrave hammering

Mike Holford’s side travelled to their Leicestershire rivals on Saturday expecting a big challenge from the Midlands Two East (South) title chasers and were not disappointed.

The hosts have a particularly strong home record, and played the slope and the strong wind much better than the visitors with simple, straight running rugby, going through the phases and kicking for position.

Melton’s young squad found themselves on the wrong end of 43 points at half-time, but stuck diligently to their task, with Leon Gormley and Jack Forfar titanic in the back row, and half-backs Archie Hutchinson and Chris Rose dealing well with slow ball and windy conditions.

Harry Wood continues to impress in midfield, while the front five maintained strong scrummaging against wily opponents.

It was not a day for lineouts as the strong gusts caused havoc with accuracy and timing, but both sides suffered in equal measure.

Playing up the slope and generally into the breeze, Melton were 21 points down before they had a chance to threaten the Belgrave line.

Strong carrying from Phil Kerr, Sam Dennison and Jake Dixon gave the visitors good position, but the lineout failed and from a quick counter-attack, Belgrave made it 28-0.

It was a similar story for the last 15 minutes of the half as Belgrave countered Melton’s attacks with long kicks and straight running to add another 17 points.

Their conversion rate was outstanding in the wind as they chalked up 43 unanswered points, a scoreline which could have persuaded Melton to throw in the towel.

Melton conceded another three converted tries after the break, the first straight from the kick-off, and one which Melton believed should not have been awarded by an unsighted official.

But now at 64 points down and eyeing their biggest defeat of the season, Melton played their best rugby.

Introducing Carl McGee into the back row, George Kaczmarczyk into second row and Halford to the front row, the visitors suddenly had go-forward ball as Belgrave tired.

A break from Will Garnett and Henry Kaczmarczyk almost brought a try after a foot race to touch down.

Then a scything run from prop Christian Jeremiah opened up the home defence, and Gormley’s spiralling boot into space set Melton on their way to two tries and respectability. The first came after several forward carries led to McGee crashing over from short range.

Harvey Green added the tricky conversion and Melton had a spring in their step.

Another blistering break from Wood saw Henry Kaczmarczyk held up, but from the resulting scrum and drives, Wood put another try on the board.

Green added the conversion and Melton had 14 points to take home with them.

Belgrave saw out the final few minutes on the back foot, happy to take the bonus-point win, but Melton could take pride from the overall performance and a morale boost going into Saturday’s home game with fifth-placed Bugbrooke.

The Northamptonshire side shaded the reverse fixture 12-3 in late November, and a large, vociferous support could help Melton turn the tables.

Kick-off at Burton Road is 2.15pm.