Paviors RFC

Paviors 14   Melbourne 28

This weekend Pavs welcomed Melbourne RFC to The Stump in Round 2 in the Regional 2 Midlands North competition. Last season, the honours were shared with both teams winning their respective home fixtures. Pavs continue their youth focussed rebuild with the inclusion and 1st XV debuts of more current academy players in Finlay Moran and Cole Mangham as well as Ben Beeley at hooker.

From the kick off, Pavs seemed to oddly engage the wrath of the official on a number of occasions and accordingly found it difficult to make any real headway. On fifteen minutes and from yet another penalty, Melbourne moved the ball quickly, caught Pavs napping and went in under the posts to give them a 7-0 lead. Pavs then got going and made several forays into the Melbourne's twenty two. Having said this, seven minutes later, a missed tackle saw Melbourne add to their score with a further try to go 14-0 up. This seemed to galvanise Pavs into action. A series of plays took Pavs to the Melbourne line where a penalty afforded the pack the opportunity to drive over which skipper Phil Eggleshaw duly did. George Billam added the extras to bring Pavs back in touch at 7-14. Pavs continued to dominate matters late in the half with a number of penalties being awarded to them as the pressure began to tell. In the last minute of the half, prop Tom Ryan found himself in the open spaces before executing a stylish pass to youngster Cole Mangham who then sprinted in to bring things level at 14-14 with the Billam extras.

Half time 14-14. 

Pavs began the second half brightly, but similar to last week, they suffered a number of injuries in a fifteen minute spell. Fly half George Billam had to leave the field with a bloodied nose to be replaced another youngster in Ollie Anderson. Flanker Jacob Playford suffered a hamstring injury and was replaced by Sam Bradley and moments later Tom Ryan left the fray to be replaced twenty year old Jayden Wilkinson in the front row. Experience shows that it takes a while for things to settle down when these sort of things happen. Pavs continued to press for the lead,  but from their real attack of the half, Melbourne moved the ball wide to touch down in the corner and thus give them back the lead at 14-21, arguably somewhat against the run of play at this time. George Billam returned with ten minutes to go replacing centre Alex Morgan. Pavs continued to press forward for the equalising try. As they drove towards the line, the last pass was intercepted and Melbourne went the length to score and put them further in front at 14-28. Even then, Pavs fought back with a real sense of urgency. Penalties accrued, but unfortunately, they were not able to make the best use of these in securing a point from the game. Melbourne gleefully punted the ball into touch following a last penalty to secure the win.

Pavs will undoubtedly feel frustrated at how matters turned out. The performance itself was massively improved from last week. They were more than in the game just after half time, but injuries and annoying errors  took their toll. One certainly cannot question the commitment and effort put in by the squad. As a young and developing group, these things are bound to happen. The squad travel to Stoke RFC next week, looking to build upon the good work of this week. 

Squad

1. Dan Hyams
2. Ben Beeley
3. Tom Ryan
4. Kaine Johnson
5. Joe Crossland
6. Jacob Playford 
7. Matt Molyneux
8. Phil Eggleshaw (C) (1T)
9. Jack Stanford
10. George Billam (2C)
11. Finlay Moran
12. Alex Morgan
13. Dan Stokes
14. Cole Mangham (1T)
15. Dan Flint
16. Ollie Anderson (45 mins)
17. Sam Bradley (50 mins)
18. Jayden Wilkinson (60 mins)