Burton welcomed local rivals Melbourne to the Ox-hay for a match, its a couple of years since the 2 sides last played and we had no form guide as such. Burton had 11 sub’s and all got half a game at least. Burton kicked off and set up camp in the Melbourne half they kept possession well for 10 minutes and battered away at the Melbourne defence, good rucking was the order of the day and the ball was well re-cycled, however against the run of play Melbourne got a breakaway try and scored in the corner. Heads could have dropped, but this team are made of sterner stuff, they took the fight to Melbourne and Monty went over for a try after a nice show and go. Cameron was next go over after good work in the 22 and the final try in the half came for full back Mitch, who returned a kick and weaved his way through a crowd of players to score under the posts. It’s worth noting that both Zak & Andreas made some last ditch tackles and both dived balls kicked through preventing Melbourne getting any more points. Half time scores 19 v 5.
Burton made 11 changes and off we went again. Burton moved the ball quickly and Lawson got a good pass away to Steve wide out who sprinted around the cover to score wide out. Melbourne still in the game got 1 back. Owen got on the score sheet after some more good recycling with a sprint down the wing. Next on the score sheet was Hector who made one of his all “arms and legs” runs through the middle, handing off a last ditch tackle by the full back to score under the posts. Burton were set up to finish on a high but gave away a few too many penalties gifting Melbourne field position allowing Melbourne to build some pressure & score a couple of soft try’s. Final score Burton 34 v Melbourne 20.
A good win built on solid foundations and even with 11 changes in personnel at half time the team all performed at a consistent level. I believe this team although still very raw has the potential to be a very good rugby side, and I see no reason with continued hard work at training on Wednesday nights they can’t progress even more.