Mellish Ladies made the long trip to face Scunthorpe Ladies away after recording their first win of 2016 against the same opponents two weeks earlier.The game started badly for Mellish with Scunthorpe scoring straight from the kick off but missing the conversion to lead 5-0. Mellish Ladies regrouped and took play back upfield but Scunthorpe turned them over and spent the next 20 minutes in the Mellish half. Mellish Ladies defended well and with a more dominant scrum shut Scunthorpe out, eventually forcing some territory and after another strong scrum the backs shifted the ball through the hands and Jess Wade crossed in the corner to tie the scores at 5-5 with the conversion being missed. Scunthorpe Ladies finished the half in the Mellish 22 but couldn’t break down our defence and we went into the 2nd half with the scores tied.
Scunthorpe started the 2nd half with a kick that didn’t go 10 so Mellish Ladies opted for the scrum. From here the clean ball the forwards gave the backs allowed a swift exchange of passes to Jess Wade to run in her 2nd try of the game but the conversion was missed (10-5 Mellish).
Mellish Ladies clearly sensed the balance had shifted in the game and the platform given by the work at the breakdown allowed our shape and structure in the backs to cause further in roads and Jess Panayiotou crashed through the Scunthorpe defence to sprint clear and dot down to give Mellish a 15-5 lead. Shortly after Jess Panayiotou doubled her try count with another fine break after some sharp hands from the backs created her the space to score under the posts with the extra’s added by Jess Wade (22-5 Mellish). Scunthorpe then enjoyed a purple patch of possession and after a few silly penalties given away they crossed for their 2nd try of the afternoon but missed the extras (22-10). Mellish regrouped and after some good work in the loose by the whole team offering support on the shoulder, the ball was shipped wide for Jess Wade to race away from just inside the Scunthorpe half to cross for her 3rd try of the day to leave Mellish 27-10 in front at the final whistle.
