The Stags visited Mapperley Plains to take on Mellish in a top of the table clash that could have sealed the destination of the league title. The Stags had won all their previous away games this season, but Mellish haven’t been beaten at home since 2019, so one record would be broken by 4:30pm.

Hinckley kicked off with a light breeze at their backs and were straight into a physical battle. Mellish used their big forwards to carry the ball close to the breakdown and the Stags had to make sure their tackles were low to stop them in their tracks.
This was to continue for most of the afternoon. Both teams had periods of early pressure, but it was Hinckley that broke the deadlock on the 10 minute mark. A Mellish line out on the halfway was claimed by club stalwart Matt Fearn, who rolled back the years with a strong carry up the field. The ball was then moved at speed to centre George Marsden who fed ben Bevan running an excellent line from full back to breach the Mellish back line. Bevan returned the ball inside to Marsden with open space in front of him. Marsden charged over the line, taking three Mellish defenders with him, to open the scoring. Lewis Gardner’s conversion was successful and the Stags took a 7 point lead.

Five minutes later Mellish had a score of their own with a well struck long range penalty from their full-back. They followed this up with a period of pressure in Hinckley territory using their strong running 13 and 14 to good effect to get in behind the Stags defensive line. Only a fantastic covering tackle from Dylan Weddle prevented the right winger getting dangerously close to our own try line.

Good defensive pressure from Hinckley led to our next score when Marsden got a hand to a Mellish pass in midfield, regathered before it became a knock on and offloaded to Connor Nixon. There was no catching Nixon as he raced to the line for his 13th league try of the season. Gardner converted, but not before he was involved in some handbags as Mellish tried their best to influence the referee to change his decision. A 14-3 lead, but a Mellish penalty direct from the kick-off. The remainder of the first half was played without further score.

Mellish won a penalty within 2 minutes of the restart, which they again opted to kick for goal. Another well struck penalty saw the ball sail between the posts and Mellish had doubled their score.

Hinckley then made their first change with player-coach Steve Harvey entering the field in place of Craig Bresland. Both sides were throwing everything into this encounter in both attack and defence, but it was the Stags who struck next. Joe Barnes made an excellent break up the middle of the park, showing surprising pace for a number 8. He was held up short and Weddle’s snipe close to the line led to a Mellish penalty for holding on. Mellish cleared their lines, but their line out was overthrown and the ball was moved to Marsden at speed. He again made significant ground, holding off defenders at will. The recycled ball was moved to Alex Norris, who cut inside and offloaded outside to Nixon who dived into the corner. Gardner’s difficult conversion dropped short, but Hinckley had extended their lead to 13 points.

Mellish hit back almost immediately with a try of their own. The Stags thought they had kept the home side out with several chop tackles to halt their aforementioned forward runners. However, poor defence in the midfield allowed the Mellish hooker to touchdown under the posts. Oddly, the Mellish kicker opted to take the conversion back at the 22 metre line rather than directly in front of the posts and sliced his kick wide.

The lead was down to 8 points. He did, however, make up for this indiscretion by slotting another penalty kick to close the gap to 5.
For the second week running Hinckley played the last 15 minutes under intense pressure as their opposition went for a potentially game winning score. However, the Stags defence held firm as wave after wave of Mellish attacks were repelled. As we entered the final 2 minutes Mellish were camped in the Hinckley 22, but were relieved to see the home fly-half throw a pass into touch mistaking one of his own substitutes for his left winger. Hinckley cleared their lines, but the line out wasn’t straight, giving Mellish the feed at a scrum with seconds left on the clock. Another outstanding defensive set led to a handling error which prompted the referee to end the contest.

Final Score: Mellish 14 Stags 19 A hard fought contest, which you’d expect from a top-of-the-table clash, was probably won through outstanding collective defence and a refusal to let the home side get the upper hand in front of a partisan home crowd, who aren’t used to seeing them lose. A real test of character for our young squad in their first season of league rugby. This victory takes us closer to the league title, which will be won if we take 1 point from our remaining three fixtures. The target, however, is to win all three games to finish the league season in style.

MAN OF THE MATCH: it’s really difficult to single out one player, as it was a collective squad effort that won us the game, but Matt Fearn claims the accolade for taking the battle to our opposition for the full 80 minutes.

UTS