Another six try haul

Midlands 3 East North
29th January 2011
Mellish nil Nottingham Casuals 36

League leaders do the double in local derby.A six try haul, a bonus point on top of that,still in top spot, what more can you wish for.
The try bonus points are becoming extremely important,very slowly pulling Casuals away at the top.

Tries from Howatson, Higgins, Rex Walker!!, a waddle in from Paul Greensmith, Neil Kilbride, and Gilly, a rumble in from 40, (30ish?, alright 25 metres out)

Casuals strengthened their position at the top of the table with this convincing over local rivals Mellish, but don’t have it that easy.

It was the second half that brought greater rewards, but the first half was very closely contested.

Casuals opened the scoring after 10 minutes of fluctuating play. Mellish had been on the attack, and kicked ahead, only for Ben Hallam to field the ball. He ran the ball back down the wing, and chipped ahead. The Mellish winger managed to mess up trying to retrieve the ball, and Brody Howatson charging up retrieved the ball from over his head, and managed to hang on, accelerating away from the cover from halfway.

It took another 10 minutes for the next score to come. Casuals were awarded a scrum in Mellish’s 22 and No 8 Ben Wells, forced his way through, flipping the ball up to Mark Higgins who managed to twist over the line, planting the ball down one handed.

The score remained at 10 – nil till after half time.

Casuals started to take a bit more control after the break, consistently forcing Mellish into errors..

Casuals won a ball midfield from a maul, and lock Rex Walker, lingering in the centre, shimmied through the Mellish backs to rumble through for a try, much to delight of the gathered family members on the touchline.
(The furthest he’s run with a ball in his hands all season)

Casuals then benefited from a very basic error, by Mellish. As Mellish attacked, the ball carrier didn’t spot Ben Wells coming back in defence, and gave a him a beautiful pass, only for Wells to turn and set Higgins away, the attack moved to the right, where sub Paul Greensmith went through an almost bemused defence to romp (Hobbson said waddle) away to the posts, Higgins converting.

The next try came from a carbon copy error by Mellish,and Wells again went off in the opposite direction, and flanker Neil Kilbride went through the floundering Mellish defence and unselfishly put Higgins in for another try, which he then converted.

Casuals defence was immense throughout, but when Casuals went down to 14 men, following a yellow carding, the pack again excelled at a scrum, 5 metres from Casuals goal line, when they shoved Mellish off their own put-in , just to rub in their dominance.

It was a gleeful moment for Captain, Richard Gill, when he was given the ball on 22 metre line, and Mellish fell away in his path as he pounded for the line for the final try, to which Higgins added the goal.