24 April 2008

Meltham 1 – Moldgreen 0  (Double Header – 4 points at stake)

A rugby league game resulting in a score more akin to a soccer result.  A game with a low score, but not low on drama.

Playing conditions were less than ideal, an extremely muddy pitch at the end of a long season, having seen two mid week matches already, both sides found it difficult to gain any speed through the mud.

Moldgreen tested the Meltham defence in the first half, and with Joshua Worrall and others tackling everything that moved, found too much resistance

With Meltham back in control of the ball Moldgreen were forced back into their half, and rarely left it again.  Meltham had most ball possession for the rest of the half, but try as they might they could not get it over the line.  In the week since the two teams had met, Moldgreen had worked on their defence, and left Meltham looking for the gaps.

The second half, both teams carried on where they had left off.  Meltham’s defence keeping Moldgreen in their own half.  Meltham kept up the attack going for the line time after time.  Nathaniel Stott put on a fantastic display of stepping and taking the ball forward towards the line, and not just the once, again and again, but Moldgreen’s defences were up, and they weren’t giving an inch.

Finally Andy Lambert, dived over the line, to lose the ball shortly after putting it down.  No try – the ref called a ‘knock on’.  The Meltham players were not giving up, and refused to give Moldgreen any quarter, forcing them back.

With the match going towards a no-score draw Jordan Steeples took his chance for a drop goal, and put Meltham in the lead.  With such a small lead, both teams still had everything to play for.  The final few minutes of the game remained tense, with Meltham attacking the line, and Moldgreen fighting to get into Meltham’s half, both teams should be proud of their defence.

With the lowest score possible, Meltham deserved to take the four points on offer for keeping Moldgreen where they wanted them, but need to work on getting the ball all the way along the line.

Best forward:- Jordan Steeples

Best Back:- Andy Lambert

Player’s Player:- Jamie-Lee Fox

20 April 2008

Queensbury 20 – Meltham 4
 
Meltham found it hard going against a strong and determined Queensbury team. Both teams cancelled each other out for most of the first half with both teams holding strong in defence. Meltham had down hill advantage in the first half but could not make the most of this, and but for an excellent solo run and try by Andrew Lambert the half time score would have been 0 -0 but as it was Meltham led 4 0 at the break.

On their first set of six Queensbury scored putting the score at 6-4 to Queensbury. From the restart on the fifth and last Lambert kicked over their defence and but for a wicked bounce would have surely scored under the posts, but instead  knocked on. Strong running from Josh Zatorski and Matthew Speight saw Meltham constantly applying pressure on the Queensbury line and strong defence from Huw Evans, Tom Sugden, Jordan Williams and Christian Summers kept Queensbury at bay.  A slip in defence saw Queensbury score out wide with ten minutes to go. Meltham tried to rally but Queensbury were too strong and scored 2 more unanswered tries putting the final score at 20 4.

Best Back Andrew Lambert

Best Forward Matthew Speight

Players Player Andrew Lambert

Earlier in the week the under 14’s beat Moldgreen 10-0 putting them through to final of the Huddersfield cup where they will meet Newsome.

6 April 2008

 Keighley 20 -  Meltham 16

Meltham couldn't have asked for any worse bad luck than they got against Keighley, with what seemed like 3 perfectly good tries disallowed and 3 balls dropped over the try line. In a game where Meltham started strong going up the slope with good defence and strong running but after 10 minutes sloppy defending enabled a Keighley player to run 3/4 length of the pitch after being pinned back in their own 20 to score the opening try. Meltham's reply was immediate with good running from the forwards enabling the backs to get the ball out wide for Josh Worrall to score in the corner bringing the scores to 6-4. With 3 attempts being dropped over the try line by Meltham their concentration seemed to lapse and in a resulting tap on 20 metre line a Keighley player promptly ran full length of the pitch after some more sloppy defending by Meltham to make the score 10-6. Again Meltham seemed to pick their game up with the forwards again gaining the yards and the backs getting the ball out to Josh Worrall again who put the ball down over the line and was subsequently jumped on and pushed onto the corner flag therefore the ref disallowed the try even to the bewilderment of the Keighley coach.  The second half saw Meltham having all the possession but again Keighley broke and scored to make the scores 14-6.Meltham kept applying all the pressure and thought this had paid off when Sam Crowe placed the ball over the try line but the ref claimed he was held up and Meltham struggled to go over the line even after all the pressure they were applying.  With 5 minutes to go Meltham found they were again in a position to apply pressure on the Keighley line which they crossed after some excellent running from the backs allowing Ben White to cross over the try line bringing the scores to 14-10.  On Meltham’s next set of 6 excellent running from Mathew Speight and Jordan Williams allowed Josh Zatorski to cross over for Meltham’s last try which was converted by Jordan Steeples. On the last set of 6 Keighley kicked on the 5th and last and with an unlucky bounce a Meltham player knocked it forward off his foot out of his own goal area and a Keighley player jumped on the ball knocking it forward and then grounded the ball a good 12 inches short of the line and the ref gave the try to the bewilderment of the both coaches. Meltham now need to win their remaining 5 fixtures to stand any chance of a play off with Queensbury to win the league. Although the Meltham players were disheartened with the result they should take great heart in showing good character and resilience in a game where if anything could go wrong it did today. Final score 20-16 to Keighley

Best Forward - Mathew Speight

Best Back - Andrew Lambert

Players Player - Jordan Williams

16 March 2008

 Queensbury 6 -  Meltham 12

The hard work that Meltham have put in paid of against a much bigger and full of confidence Queensbury team after beating Meltham last time they played but Meltham were to prove the stronger and fitter team. On a pitch that was deep in mud and heavy under foot Queensbury opted to go up the hill in the first half. Neither team had any significant advantage over the other with plenty of ball being spilt and players even sliding over ten feet into touch. 5 minutes before half time Meltham made the break through after some excellent running from the forwards gaining some valuable yards into the Queensbury half which enabled Andrew Lambert to open the scoring for Meltham, giving a half time lead of 6-0 to Meltham.

Meltham expected an onslaught from Queensbury’s big team but such was Meltham’s defence and eagerness to win the game this never happened. Within 5 minutes of restart Meltham were 8-0 up with a penalty converted by Sam Hirst who 5 minutes later after excellent running by Sam Crowe & Jordan Williams was able to score giving Meltham a 12 0 lead. From here on in the result never looked in doubt until a late forage into the Meltham half enabled Queensbury to score when around 10 Meltham players all seemed to slip in the thick mud chasing the same player who did well to crash in over the line bringing the scores back to 12-6. Excellent games were had by all Meltham players. Special mentions to top tackler Mathew Speight, Nathaniel Stott & Tom Sugden. This puts Meltham joint top with Queensbury on equal amounts of games played.

Best Forward Jordan WIlliams

Best Back Andrew Lambert

Players Player Sam Hirst

9 March 2008

Moldgreen 10 -  Meltham 24

Meltham got off to the best possible start going 14 nil up in the first 10 minutes, playing up the hill, all this was down to good ball handling and a strong defence. The first try was scored by Sam Hirst who was put over by Andrew Lambert after an excellent run by Sam Crowe . Meltham’s second came from Jordan Williams making a run from the back of the scrum and putting Lambert over for his first try. Good running by Tom Sugden put Meltham on the offensive again and Lambert after some good ball handling from his team mates was able to put Williams over in the corner. This seemed to wake Moldgreen up and they went on the attack and with some slack defending by Meltham were allowed to score two tries putting the score at 14 - 10. This could have been a lot worse but for last ditch tackles by Sam Crowe and Nathaniel Stott. Half time score was 14 10 to Meltham.

The second half was very messy from both teams with both teams spilling the ball on numerous occasions but at least Meltham’s defence restricted Moldgreen to only 3 forages into the Meltham half. On numerous occasions Meltham had the ball in the Moldgreen 10m area but continued to spill until Andrew Lambert’s solo effort put him over putting the scores at 20-10. A couple of minutes later Meltham’s pressure paid off again with good ball handling from Sam Hirst allowing Jordan Steeples to score

Best Forward Sam Crowe

Best Back Andrew Lambert

Players Player Andrew Lambert

2 March 2008

Meltham 64 -  Hoyland 0

Although this was a total mismatch, Hoyland never gave up even after being offered a chance of stopping the game at 50 - 0, Meltham have been on the loosing end of big scores, and the vital lesson the All Blacks could learn from this was set by Hoyland in continuing to put up a spirited resistance. Meltham scored 13 tries and this could have been even more but for the bad conditions. Tries were scored by Nathan Richardson - 2 Tom Sugden - 1 Sam Hirst - 3 Thomas Boothroyd - 2 Sam Crow - 1 Josh Worrall - 1 Jamie-Lee Fox - 1 Jordan Williams - 1 Chris Minors - 1 Conversions by Jordan Steeples

Best Forward - Sam Crowe

Best Back - Jordan Steeples

Players Player - Tom Sugden, Nathan Richardson

24 Feb 2008

Meltham 24 -  Keighley 4

After their last game Meltham were asked to keep hold of the ball and not to rush things as this cost them dearly in their last outing and they obliged putting in a good strong performance against a strong determined Keighley team.  For the first ten minutes the game was a stalemate with all the play taking part in the middle of the pitch, neither team giving an inch. From 40 yards out Sam Hirst made an excellent break and was tackled just short of the line. From the resulting play of the ball Nathan Richardson dipped under Keighley’s defence to score the first try in the corner. On the stroke of half time a burst from their own half by Jordan Williams put Meltham 15 yards from the try line and from the resulting play Sam Hirst crashed over to give Meltham a 10- 0 half time lead.

Meltham knew Keighley would come back strong in the second half and they did scoring in the first two minutes making the score 10. 4. Although having down hill advantage Keighley rarely got in to Melthams half after this. Josh Zatorski was the next to add to the score with a fine strong solo effort busting through tackles making the score 16. 4. Melthams next try came after another strong run from Sam Hirst enabled Nathan Richardson to make the score 20. 4. the game was now beyond Keighley and after being reduced to 12 men Meltham powered up the pitch led by Sam Crowe. From 5 yards out Meltham showed good hands getting the ball out wide and putting Tom Sugden over for the last score making it 24 - 4 to Meltham.  Welcome back to Chris Minors after suffering a bad break had a good strong game.                 

Best Forward – Josh Zatorski

Best Back - Sam Hirst

Players Player Sam Hirst

10 Feb 2008

Farnley 12 - Meltham 10

Even with a depleted team Meltham could find no excuses for their lack lustre performance against Farnley. This was possibly Meltham’s worst display for 3 years continuously throwing the ball away at vital times in vital areas. The defence in the first half was up to scratch but not the attack. A mistake in letting the ball bounce in front of them let a Farnley player run through taking advantage of the bounce and scoring the opening try. Josh Worrall came closest for Meltham to open the scoring the referee called held up over the line when it appeared the ball was actually on the line. Meltham scored on the stroke of half time through Nathan Richardson which was not converted.  Putting the score at 6-4 to Farnley at half time. 

Meltham seemed to get their act together in the 2nd half but on too many occasions near the Farnley try line spilled the ball letting Farnley off the hook. After hard work from the forwards driving out of their own 20 Andrew Lambert scored a superb try putting Meltham in front for the first time 10 -6. For the resulting kick off the ball went straight to a Farnley player and a missed timed tackle allowed him to run and score which was converted giving Farnley 12-10 lead. Again Meltham tried attacking applying pressure but again on numerous occasions spilled the ball with an open try line begging.

Best Forward - Jordan Williams

Best Back - Tom Sugden

Players Player - Andrew Lambert

27 January 2008

Elland 38 - Meltham 16

Meltham got off to their worst possible start when kicking off they allowed Elland to score straight away putting them straight on the back foot. This was by far the worst defensive display of the season and thankfully it cannot get any worse.  Although a below par game in defence Meltham played some good attacking rugby but on too many occasions when in a good attacking position they either ran in to touch which was very poorly marked or they knocked on. After fifteen minutes Meltham were down 24 to 0 and after being told that the opposition were expecting to put 100 points past them they lifted their game especially in defence. The backs started tackling and this gave the forwards grounds to build their attack on. In the remaining 35 minutes Meltham won 16 14 but due to the first 15 minutes went down by 38 16. tries were scored by Jordan Williams, Jordan Steeples and Nathan Richardson. Two tries were converted by Jordan Steeples         

Best forward - Jordan Williams

Best back - Nathan Richardson

Players Player - Nathan Richardson

6 January 2008

Keighley 4 - Meltham 26

Meltham got off with a winning start to the New Year away at Keighley. Going up hill in the 1st half Meltham's defence was outstanding, and in attack also played some excellent rugby learning from the mistakes of their last game against Queensbury they kept hold of the ball behind their own 20m line with the forwards running hard up the slope to get them out of trouble giving the backs chance with the ball in the oppositions half.  After excellent running from the forwards Nathan Richardson scored in the corner to give Meltham a 6-0 lead the defence held tight with Keighley passing the ball along their line but Meltham matched this in an excellent defensive display. Sam Hirst was the next to benefit with a try giving Meltham a 10-0 lead. An excellent solo effort from Jordan Williams allowed him to cross the line to give Meltham a 14-0 lead. After constant pressure from Meltham defence Keighley spilt the ball on their 40 yard line which gave Meltham head & feed at the scrum Jordan Williams picked the ball up from loose forward & attacked the Keighley line drawing their defence in and allowing Andrew Lambert to run through the gap after an excellent off load from Jordan making the score 20-0 at half time.

Keighley responded after the break with some good fast flowing rugby, and after a lapse in concentration in the Meltham defence scored out wide giving Meltham a 20-4 lead. Meltham responded in kind 5 mins later with Nathan scoring what was to be the last try of the game. This was a good all round performance from the squad available, and an excellent result. Meltham’s forwards paved the way for this victory so well done Mathew Speight, Jordan Steeples, barn storming game from Josh Zatorski, Christian Summers & Josh Worrall.

Top Tackler - Andrew Lambert

Top Driver - Jordan Williams

Best forward - Jordan Williams

Best Back - Andrew Lambert

Players Player - Nathan Richardson/Andrew Lambert

9 December 2007

Meltham 10  - Queensbury 16 

Needless off loads behind their own 20 metre line cost Meltham their un beaten run, to a team they had beaten away just two weeks ago. After being warned about the bad conditions some players chose to ignore instructions to keep it tight in our own twenty. The game got off to a good start for Meltham with the defence holding strong and not allowing Queensbury to enter their twenty meter area and in attack with Jordan Williams leading up front they were the first to score with an excellent and strong run from Josh Zatorski. Meltham held until just on the stroke of half time when they spilled the ball and allowed Queensbury to score giving them a 6 4 lead at half time. This lifted Queensbury and after the break applied more pressure on Meltham but they never looked like conceding until a needless off load which went to ground was punished by Queensbury scoring giving them a 12 4 lead. It took Meltham 10 mins to cross the oppositions try line giving them hope of a come back but on the second tackle of their next set the was again thrown away in their 20 metre area resulting in what proved to be the killer blow for Meltham losing the game 16 10  

Best Forward with a barn storming game was Jordan Williams. Best Back after coming of his sick bed to play was Andrew Lambert. The one to watch was Matthew Speight, welcome back Speighty after a nasty broken arm excellent game got through a lot of work. Both tries were scored by Josh Zatorski and a conversion added by Jordan Steeples

25 November 2007

Queensbury 10 – Meltham 18

 Meltham knew this was going to be a close and hard fought game, but when asked to step up to the challenge everyone of the team played their part in what was to be a big moral boosting win over Queensbury who were also undefeated.

Although Queensbury had advantage of playing down the slope in the first half Meltham's defence was to prove the winner, Although a lot bigger Queensbury's attack was halted by the strong enthusiastic Meltham players. This gave Meltham a boost in their attacking play and showed great skill on numerous occasions to play a lot of their rugby in the opponents half. Meltham scored first through some excellent ball handling stretching Queensbury from one side of the pitch to the other allowing Sam Crowe to put Jordan Williams over for the first try in the corner, which was not converted. Meltham defence again held strong but one lapse in concentration allowed Queensbury to score under the post bang on half time and allowed them to go in with a 6-4 lead.

The second half with advantage of playing down the slope Meltham proved too strong in defence and very aggressive in attack. Some good strong forward play from Josh Zatoarski, Sam Crowe & Sam Hirst gave Meltham good yards into the Queensbury 20m area, which Andrew Lambert was able to take advantage of and put Jordan Williams over for a try in the corner giving Meltham the lead by 8-6. Meltham held constant pressure in the Queensbury half not allowing them to forage past their own half, the constant pressure and excellent running by Jordan Williams gave Josh Zatorski the opportunity to bust the Queensbury line once more giving Meltham a 14-6 lead. Queensbury at this point did manage to venture into the Meltham half and won head n feed in the Meltham 20m from the leading scrum the scrum half opted to go blind side where Meltham had only one sole defender Nathaniel Stott who promptly brought him down from the next play of the ball Meltham forced a knock on and received the ball again, but after 2 drives the ball was lost and Queensbury applied pressure and after numerous penalties against Meltham managed to go over for a try, bringing the score to 14-10 Meltham responded immediately and with some excellent running from the backs were able to advance to the Queensbury 10m allowing Nathan Richardson to dart over for the last try of the game.

Top Tackler Sam Crowe

Best Forward Jordan Williams

Best Back Andrew Lambert

This was an excellent all round team performance in which from 1 - 17 all played their parts in an excellent result for the team

18 November 2007

 Hoyland Vikings 0 – Meltham 54

With numerous players missing Meltham still dominated the game which by their recent high standards was a very lack lustre performance full of mistakes. One area in which Meltham did stick to their game was in defence, not letting Hoyland over the try line, in fact Hoyland only managed to venture into the Meltham half on three occasions. This was a game for the backs to dominate the try scoring by scoring eight of the eleven tries scored.

Try scorers were Josh Worrall (2) Nathan Richardson (2), Andrew Lambert (2), Josh Zatorski (2), Jordan Williams and Nathaniel Stott

Five tries were converted by Thomas Boothroyd

11 November 2007

Meltham 16 – Keighley 6

Games between the two sides over recent seasons have always been close but Meltham's defence proved to be the winner on the day. An early lapse in concentration allowed Keighley to score an unconverted try. This was the spur that Meltham needed to lift their attacking side of the game. Hard work by the forwards going up the hill enabled Sam Crowe and Jordan Williams to combine in putting Ben White over for Meltham's unconverted try. Keighley went in at half time 6-4 up after converting a penalty.

In the second half determined though Keighley may have been Meltham's defence held strong with top tacklers Jordan Williams, Josh Zatorski, Tom Sugden, Sam Crowe & Andrew Lambert leading the way. But for handling errors on the Keighley try line Meltham could have scored 2 quick tries.  Tom Sugden was the next one over the try line for Meltham with a fine solo effort, which was unconverted. Meltham's next try again from some good ball handling between Andrew Lambert & Jordan Williams who put Thomas Boothroyd over for Meltham's 3rd try which was also not converted. Meltham's last try came from a fine strong & solo effort from Sam Hirst who raced at least 30 yard into the top corner which again was not converted.  All the players who turned out today played their part in a below parr but still excellent performance from all.