Kesteven vs. Mellish (28/09/2019)

Kesteven welcomed Mellish for their opening home league match of the season. K’s gave first team debuts to Ben Bailey and Matt Grinney and welcomed Gavin Purvis Tom Webster and Martyn Parker to the team.

The sun was shining after the morning rain and the match started off at a cracking pace. Gavin Purvis fielded the kick off and immediately showed intent with a strong run upfield. The game opened up quickly and Mellish were able to make the first telling break. They won clean ball on half way and fed it quickly out to their speedy wing on the left who ran in for the opening try.

K’s reacted in the best way by taking play into the visitors 22. From a scrum out on the left they passed the ball copy-book style to Will Wood who completed the move in style for a technically perfect try. Parker missed the conversion . Kesteven settled into a pattern of maintaining possession and keeping Mellish pinned back. It was no surprise when Dan Turner, playing in his old position of centre worked his way over the line for the 2nd try. Parker converted as he did a few minutes later when Bibby crossed for the 3rd try. This one owed to the quick thinking of Dan Turner who took a quick tap penalty near half way and ran strongly into the 22. When he was stopped Cameron Bibby was on hand to pick up and score. This took the score to 19 – 5 at the break.

Matt Grinney came on to play centre with Turner moving back to number 8 and Tom Webster came off.

Kesteven started the second half as they ended the first playing at pace. Jack Palin who had looked good suffered a freak injury when he twisted his knee in open play and was replaced by Jinks with Turner moving back to centre. This seemed to unsettle the home team and despite having all the territory it was Mellish who scored with two quick fire tries both from their own 22. One was converted to narrow the gap to 2 points with 20 minutes left. Captain Gavin Purvis gathered his troops and reset the mindset and the team responded. They gained control of the set piece again and kept the speedy Mellish backs quiet. Cole came on for Norsworthy who earned his rest.

The next try came from another perfectly timed pass from Matt Grinney found Dan Turner on his outside. Dan was able to come off the wing and turn the full back to score his second. This time Grinney added the goal points. It was all Kesteven now and Draper ran clear but failed to ground the ball before Ed Cole rounded things off with the fifth try. Grinney converted to bring up an impressive win by 31 to 17.

This was a great performance by this young team. The teenage 2nd row of Norsworthy and Bailey dominated the line out and Will Pert had a storming game. Bibby took his try well and is settling into the back row. In the backs Draper was always busy at scrum half while Martyn Parker used his experience to keep the three quarters well served. Brothers Olly and Will Wood teamed up well together while Eagle is showing great promise. It was good to get the first win under their belt and sets them up in their quest to get to the upper end of the league.

Team was J Palin; J Eagle, D Turner, O Wood, W Wood; M Parker, A Draper; W Pert, R Sheardown, G Purvis, B Bailey, H Norsworthy, C Bibby, R Armstrong, T Webster Replacements E Cole, C Jinks, M Grinney.