A REORGANISED Melksham first team travelled to Swindon’s Supermarine ground.
The home team pressured the visitors from the off, forcing them to cough up two penalties and a converted try, putting them 13 points ahead in the first quarter.
The visitors rallied with an intercepted pass from Winger Ben Brown to get them on the scoresheet, the extras added by scrum half Callum Hurn. The resurgence continued with good interplay from an 8 pick up culminating in Hurn scoring out wide. Before the close of the half, Melksham struck again with Hurn passing around the tackler to the charging Alistair Smith for his first team try, Hurn adding the extras. At halftime the score was 13-19.
The second half started as the first, the visitors unable to get into their stride and strong ball carrying from Supermarine giving them the best of the field position. The home team pressure was rewarded with a converted pushover try from the forwards pack, restoring them to the lead.
The lead changed again when Hurn slotted a penalty. However shortly after strong pressure from the home team brought them into striking distance and a well struck penalty changed the lead yet again in the dying minutes of the game. A strong defensive effort thwarted last minute attacks, with the final score 23-22.
Alistair Smith and Luke Wilkins made their starting debuts for Melksham with Jordan Wakely and Josh Emslie making their first team debuts from the bench, with Connor Randall man of the match.
