Melksham travelled away, fielding a team with some replacement first team players, to Pewsey Vale.
The game was even for the first period although the visitors seemed to be gaining momentum, their effort rewarded when fly half Adam Davies struck for the first points, picking his line to cut through the defence off a scrum. Melksham continued to get into Pewsey territory and put pressure on the home line. Loose head prop Luke Wilkins diving for the line couldn’t be denied with a powerful drive to take the visitors 10 points clear at half time.
Pewsey rallied at the restart catching the defence out and an easy run in under the posts for seven points, quickly followed by another 3 from a penalty to level the score. All to play for now, the teams battled for the next points. A juggled ball corralled by winger Jacek Gronkowski collected by Chris Partt to get his first try of the season. Ramping up the pressure the visitors were again quick to score with a driving run through the centres Kieran Jenkins and Callum Gillard out to winger Jake Spooner to touch down in the corner, whilst dealing with a strong cover tackle.
Keeping the scoreboard ticking over, the visitors notched another 3 point penalty from the boot of full back Connor Randall. In the driving seat now Melksham struck again from a chip ahead collected by scrum half Dave Dyke to score; Randall adding the extras.
Discipline counted against each team at points in the game, each suffering a yellow card as a result. Melksham’s win confirmed after a break through from Jenkins offloaded to Rich Carlile to score; extras added by Randall at the final whistle.
Captain Charlie Radcliffe awarding Jenkins, Gillard and Randall with Man of the Match performances.
