Visiting Dunstablians defeat Melton Mowbray Rugby Club

This was a match pitting third versus fourth in the Midlands 3 East (South) table, with Melton having narrowly lost the away fixture earlier in the season.

The home side were missing a few regular players but the replacements all stepped up and acquitted themselves well against a well drilled side.

The game started with Melton first into their stride as they attacked up the slope.

A searing break from Max Buckley left defenders floundering and quick ball to Jake Beesley saw the winger scorch over in the corner to open the scoring.

The conversion attempt drifted just wide.

Melton continued to play fluid attacking rugby and were duly rewarded when Dunstablians conceded a penalty for a high tackle and Chris Rose slotted the extra three points.

Just when Melton needed to defend their lead the visiting side got into their stride with a well organised rolling maul from some way out and with the defence splintering their pack rumbled over for a well worked try to reduce the deficit.

This gave them the confidence they needed and they levelled the score when the Melton backs were caught offside for an easy penalty.

Dunstablians upped the pace of the game with a series of flowing attacks and the fly half made a break from a set scrum with a smart dummy to his centre to crash over just on the stroke of half time to give the visitors a lead at 15-8.

Ben Warwick was injured and limped off to be replaced by Harry Cank.

Despite some fine work in the forwards led by another outstanding display from Carl McGee ably supported by Mike Holford and Sam Thorpe it was the visitors’ pack who were starting to gain the upper hand, especially from their number eight who was causing havoc.

A fine break and slick handling saw the winger with an overlap and a short run in to score a fine try.

Not to be outdone, the Melton pack turned the screw in the scrum and a powerful drive left the Dunstablians pack in some disarray.

A wayward pass from the scrum half going backwards resulted in a classic fumble and the ever alert Sam Dennison pounced on the loose ball to score a fine poachers try.

There was an immediate repost when Melton conceded a soft penalty for offside to make the final score 23-13 to the visitors.

There were some standout performances from a battling Melton team, particularly Archie Hutchinson at scrum half, Will Garnett at full back, ably supported by Dan Evans, and Max Buckley in the forwards but it was not quite enough against a tough side.

On Saturday Melton travel to take on Huntingdon.