Mellish visited Leicester Road after three wins on the bounce to start their season and they went into this match on top of the table. Hinckley Staghounds were looking to build on a bonus point victory away at Burton 2’s the week before. It promised to be a good encounter and it didn’t disappoint.

There were a couple of changes in the pack. James Moreton came into the team in the 2nd row in place of Joe Hyatt and Dan Moolman, playing his first game in 5 years, took the place of Tom Robinson who moved into the 1st team squad in recognition of his strong recent performances. The backs were the same, but Shaun Hubbard moved to the wing to allow Alex Norris to slot in at full-back. Sam Rackleyft moved onto the bench.

Straight from the kick-off Hinckley got into their stride, showing good ambition to move the ball wide when they had the opportunity. The first try of the game arrived with only 2 minutes on the clock and it started when Norris retrieved a long kick in his own 22. Choosing to run the ball out from deep, Norris beat several Mellish tacklers and bounced off their number 8, despite the difference in size. When he was brought down the ball was moved wide to Connor Nixon who used his pace to break the line and combined with Luke Johnson to take the play into the opposition 22. The ball was recycled to Moolman several phases later and he found Shaun Hubbard in space on the wing, who was able to finish in the corner. Kristian Powell struck an excellent touchline conversion for a 7-0 lead.

Two minutes later a Mellish knock on was pounced upon by Morton who found that man Johnson, who again found himself in the right place at the right time. The ball was moved to George Marsden who put his centre partner Nixon into space wide on the left. Nixon used his searing pace again to good effect before he was brought down 30 metres from the Mellish try line. Spotting that the blindside was undefended, scrum-half Dylan Weddle picked from the base of a ruck and strode in unchallenged for Hinckley’s second try with less than 5 minutes gone. Powell added the routine conversion for a 14-0 lead.

Mellish, stung by Hinckley’s early pressure, began to show why they were unbeaten and started to take the game to the Stags with several forays into the home sides territory. However, it was Hinckley’s mistakes that were to prove their undoing. Joe Barnes, who was excellent in the line out all afternoon, managed to steal Mellish ball, but Hinckley were penalised for holding on and the next breakdown. Mellish kicked to within 5 metres of the Hinckley line and a smart short line out led to their first try of the game. The Mellish kicker added the extras. 14-7.

Hinckley went in search of another try and were unlucky not to add to the scoreline after a Powell break was carried on by Moolman, but the ball was knocked on. Mellish were to take advantage of this and after an extended spell of pressure, where Hinckley fell foul of the referee’s whistle, a quick tap penalty from 5 metres out caught Hinckley flat footed. The try was again converted and the scores were level at 14-14 with just over 15 minutes played.

The final score of the half came from Stags stalwart Marsden running another of his trademark lines to score to the left of the posts, which was converted by Powell for a 7 point lead. 21-14.

At this point Hubbard left the field with a finger injury, replaced by Rackleyft, for his first league appearance of the season. Marsden repeated the trick shortly before the half-time whistle, but, inexplicably, the referee deemed the ball to be held up in goal.

Ewan Bartlett replaced Steve Harvey in the front row at the break.

The first half saw several sways of momentum and the second half followed in a similar vein. Mellish brought themselves back into the game almost immediately. A smart kick through from the fly half was fly hacked on and touched down to take the scoreline to 21-19 in Hinckley’s favour. The conversion to draw the scores level was missed, allowing Hinckley to maintain a narrow lead and it was a lead they never relinquished.

So far, all Hinckley’s points had been scored by the backs, but the forwards were next to get in on the act. A penalty was kicked into the Mellish 22 followed by a classic Hinckley catch and drive. The rolling maul worked the ball slowly towards the try line and it was Moolman who reappeared with the ball after dropping over the try line to score. Powell’s conversion was again successful giving the Stags a 9 point cushion and a try scoring bonus point.

At this point, the crowd started to wonder whether Hinckley had finally broken Mellish’s spirit and would start to pull away. No such thing happened and Hinckley were back under pressure and defending for their lives. Mellish now started to bring their sizeable forwards into the game to good effect. Several strong carries in succession close to the breakdown led to another try and a try-scoring bonus of their own. The conversion swiftly followed taking the score to 28-26.

The game was really becoming an end to end affair and the next score would be crucial. Luckily, it fell the way of the home side. A kick out of defence was challenged in the air by Logan Whittingham and the ball bounced into Nixon’s hands. Nixon again broke down the touchline and found Marsden on his shoulder who cantered to the line untouched. Powell missed the conversion, but Hinckley now had a 34-26 lead going into the last 15 minutes of the game.

Mellish came straight back into the game, but some excellent cover defence kept them at bay. An excellent last gasp tackle from Weddle saved a certain try and made up somewhat for the horrendous interception pass that he through when we had a 3 man overlap. Barnes’ line out defence was proving to be pivotal and when he got a hand to a Mellish line out on the halfway, Powell was able to unleash Nixon with an excellent pass. Nixon sprinted outside his man and finally broke Mellish’s resistance to touch down under the posts. Powell’s conversion made the score 40-26, giving the Stags some breathing space.

Powell converted a routine penalty with the last play off the game to out some gloss on the performance for a final score of Hinckley Staghounds 43 Mellish 26.

This was our best performance of the season so far against a well-drilled Mellish side who will be towards the top of the table at the end of the season. Hinckley looked dangerous in attack when we moved the ball into the wide channels and could have scored more tries from these areas if we had been more clinical. It was a tough game, but we showed good character to continue to fight back after each Mellish score. Plenty to work on, but another step in the right direction taking us to 2nd in the table.

Some excellent individual performances. James Moreton brought experience into the second row and got through plenty of work. Luke Johnson was everywhere in attack and defence. George Marsden would have had a hat trick of tries on another and he again combined well with Connor Nixon, who was a thorn in Mellish’s side all afternoon. However, after 5 years out with a serious shoulder injury, player of the match has to go to Dan Moolman. An excellent performance topped off with a debut try.

Next week we travel to Ashbourne, who also have three wins from four games.

UTS