Southwell travelled to local rivals Mellish on the back of a good win against West Bridgford last Saturday on the opening day of the new clubhouse. The corresponding fixture last year was a very hard fought draw between these two sides, and after 15 minutes when Southwell scored the Bonus point fourth try it was plain to all that sadly, there was to be no repeat of that tight scoreline. The Redmen had some enforced changes to the previous match with Jamie Needham in hospital with concussion sustained from last weeks game, Craig Stewart injured, Josh Hart working and Ben Hughes unavailable with reasons that cannot be published without causing major embarrassment to the player.
Right from the off hard running number 8 Drew Shearwood bustled his way through the home team’s defence to set up some quick hands for winger Adam ‘Frenchie’ Wentworth to open the scoring after 5 minutes, Ewan Miller converted 7-0.
On the 10 minute mark Veteren Lock Rob Young hot off his Vets Match last week piled though in midfield and made a tremendous offload to centre Rob Batterbury to score under the posts, Ewan Miller converted 14-0. The Redmen were now starting to get into the groove and Fly Half Joe Musgrove on his own 10 metre line took out 2 Mellish defenders and offloaded to Rob Batterbury who set up Two quick plays by the Southwell Pack which left room for Man of the Match Centre Mark Layfield to run in under the posts, Ewan Miller converted 14-0.
The resulting Kick Off by Mellish was taken in the air like a gazelle by Prop James Tamplin who popped the ball neatly to Shearwood who took the ball deep into the Home Sides 22 where it was recycled and passed out to the waiting line of Southwell Players. It looked like the move was about to be thwarted by some good defence then Lock Jack Christy decided to pass the ball under his legs American Football style to keep the move alive. Some very slick passing resulted in Batterbury scoring his second of the game out wide. What a way to bring up the Bonus Point! Miller missed the conversion 26-0. Unfortunately this would be the end of Batterbury’s game as he tweeked his Hamstring and was rested as a precaution, Simon Barber joined the game.
A quick try followed on 21 minutes with Callum Anderson running in and a missed conversion from Miller 31-0. At this point the home side had not really made it into Southwell’s 22 metre. Wentworth scored his Hat Trick after a bullocking 10 yard sprint from young Prop Luke Brafield, Miller converted 38-0. Good speed and feet from Layfield attacking the Mellish pack sent Wentworth in on the 31 minute mark, the conversion was good from Miller to finish the half 45-0.
The halftime message from Coach Dan Montagu was to remain disciplined to the gameplan. Brafield was replaced by George Chatfield, who was returning from long term injury. Captain Nathan Beastall moved into his more settled position of Hooker and Alex Smith moved out to his usual position of Prop.
The second half started in exactly the way the Coach had not wanted it to. To their credit Mellish had had come together rallied around each other and started to get on the top of the Southwell pack. The Redmen looked a different team for the first 20 minutes of the second half and the home team finally got on the scoreboard on the 45 minute mark after a period of sustained pressure. Mellish had a series of strong scrums 5 metres out and Southwell were lucky to not get a Penalty Try awarded against them. It was following a scrum that the Mellish Winger slipped through the covering Wentworth to score in the corner, a try that went unconverted, 45-5. Southwell brought off Anderson and Luke Jones entered the fray. The Mellish pressure continued. Prop Smith was withdrawn as a precaution after complaining of concussion symptoms and Brafield returned to Prop. The Mellish pressure continued and resulted in an unconverted try 45-10.
After this period of Mellish Pressure they ran out of steam and the Redmen returned to their game plan and a speedy break from Jones on the wing saw him pass inside to the supporting Layfield to run under the posts, conversion by Musgrove 52-10. A smart blidside move by Musgrove on 70 minutes fed Layfield to score his Hat trick, converted by Musgrove 59-10.
Southwell were well in their stride again and Mellish were clearly tiring. Shearwood received the kick off and went bashing through 3 Mellish tackles to the half way line then skilfully set up Wentworth again to run the length of the Mellish half to score under the posts, conversion by Musgrove 66-10. A dropped ball by Mellish at halfway was smartly gathered by Layfield who set up Wentworth who beat 2 Mellish defenders to run in for his sixth try, missed conversion by Musgrove 71-10. The last of the Southwell scores came from Captain Beastall after strong running from Layfield and Jones through the Mellish defence the offload found Beastall and like a hobbit on speed he slipped a tackle to find himself a few yards out, he shaped to swallow dive like Chris Ashton but dignity got the better of him, thankfully. Musgrove converted 78-10.
With the game in the last minute Mellish would have the final say with club stalwart Prop Sam Harris going over from close range, unconverted to make the final score 78-15.
Coach Montagu was happy with the performance and is urging continued application at training. The club has again made a statement to raising the standard of coaching by agreeing to sign a high quality Backs Coach for the rest of the season. This will further strengthen the coaching setup and increase the capacity for more players to train on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The club will announce the name of the backs coach during the forthcoming week and is urging all players from 16 to 60 to make the best use of the 2 coaches and attend training.
The Man of the Match points were as follows – Mark Layfield (3), Will Ridgeway (2) and Adam Wentworth (1).
The 1st XV return to Park Lane next week to host Boston RFC.