Melton run out of steam after promising start

With talismanic Ollie Circuit missing the match due to injury, Melton had to reshuffle the backs, with Harvey Wood getting a start for the first time in a while.

It was a perfect day for running rugby and Melton were quickly out of the blocks with several phases of attacks.

An early scrum earned Melton a penalty, but a relatively easy kick was pulled wide by the normally accurate Harvey Green.

Wellingborough hit back immediately but Will Helliwell was solid in defence and a classic up and under kick was scrambled clear.

The pressure was maintained by Melton, who were enjoying most of the possession and territory. A good line out take by James Long resulted in quick ball from Duncan Lennox to Mark Cox.

Cox in turn slipped the ball to Klayy Raford who crashed over from close range. Green added the conversion from out wide.

Having enjoyed the lions share of the territory for the first quarter, Melton then inexplicably sat back on their narrow lead.

Sensing an opportunity, Wellingborough made some substantial territorial gains with some good handling moves, which paid dividends when the dangerous centre crashed over in the corner. A well struck conversion levelled the scores.

Just on the stroke of half time the hosts added a penalty to make it finely poised at 10-7.

Early in the second half a towering kick from the Wellingborough stand off was scooped up by Cox who caught the defence napping to scuttle over for Melton’s second try of the game, with Green adding another fine conversion to give the visitors a four point advantage.

Wellingborough’s response was immediate and from a set scrum the ball was spun out wide for the home side to score in the corner from a well worked overlap. This was quickly followed by a set move in midfield with the Wellingborough full back powering into the line to score a good try. The conversion took Wellingboough into a 22-14 lead.

Late in the game Wellingborough seemed the fitter side and ran the ball at every opportunity. Injuries to both Duncan Lennox and Henry Kaczmarczyk didn’t help Melton’s cause.

The final score of the game came from a heel against the head in a set scrum, with the home number eight making a storming break and, aided by good close support and some ineffective tackling by Melton, to add another try and seal a 27-14 victory for Wellingborough, which saw Melton drop a place in the table to 11th.