Melton RFC fightback falls just short at Leicester

Melton RFCs Development XV show the wear and tear of a winters afternoon EMN-180213-142524002

On a very wet and muddy pitch, the young, quick Melton XV, including three under 18s – Brad Johnson, A. Smith and Jake Beesley – battled against a very strong and sizeable Lions team.

The terrible conditions dictated the game with scrum after scrum. Lewis Brookes and Ben White gave the scrum stability and dominance, while big tackling performances from Forfar and Kelsall also kept the opposition out for most of the first half.

But at half-time, Melton were 14 points down.

Melton's man-of-the-match Harvey Kelsall EMN-180213-142513002

The second half saw the visitors dominate the open play, with Harvey Green controlling the game at fly-half and scoring the first try.

Man-of-the-match Harvey Kelsall worked hard in defence and carried the ball well, and two more scores followed.

They were created by the forwards who attacked the fringes before the backs spread the ball wide to complete the tries.

The Lions ran out narrow 21-19 winners, but a great performance from the Melton development side left everyone in good spirits ahead of the next game.

Melton: Ben White, Elliot Kelsall, Lewis Brookes, Dan Evans, Adam Chambers, Josh Haywood, Jack Forfar (capt), Harvey Kelsall, A. McCabe, Harvey Green, Harry Cank, Cam Bibby, James Woolley, A. Smith, Brad Johnson. Replacements: Dave Meakin, Jake Beesley, Tom Allen, James Cavanar.