Worksop Rugby Club

Worksop 17 - 10 Ilkeston

Worksop seconds had a full squad to select from against a strong Ilkeston team. Captain Nigel Peach won the toss and decided to play with a very strong wind to their back. This immediately paid off when Worksop collected the ball from the kick off and passed it out to C.Barnett who, with the support of N. Hopkinson made inroads to the opponents 22. M.Mckernan and N.Peach made the ball available from the scrum for a quick play by young scrum half A.Bainbridge to pass down the line for M.Hardy to score a great try with only two minutes on the clock.

Worksop's confidence was running high and with Ikeston pinned in their own half for long periods, it wasnt long before Worksop's young forwards started to show what they were capable of when N.Parry broke free and, with the help of D.Binder, J.Williams set up N.Spillane to score from close range.

Meet 1.00pm, K.O. 3.00pm

Alan Hopkinson, Steve Dickinson, Richard Hutton, Paul Roome, Tim Palmer, Kev McGuire, Lee Elliott, Gaz Truckle, Joel Candy, Andy Waddell, Brian Sayle, Nick Kay, Danny Bowskill, Matt Nunn, Liam Beard, Russell Billam, Liam Cooper, Wayne Betts.

Meet 1.00pm, K.O. 3.00pm

Neil Hopkinson, Nigel Peach, Stuart Waddell, Simon Colton, John Williams, Nathan Parry, Nathan Spilane, Colin Barnett, Aaron Bainbridge, Darren Sheppard, Zeke Ebbs, Keith Dunstan, Andy Slater, Mike Barnett, Luke Middleton, Dave Piddington, Darren Norton, Dave Bennett, Matt Hardy, G Smith, M Moss, Louis Robinson.

Worksop 31 - 24 Melbourne

Game Photos 

Having lost their first league fixture to Amber Valley, plus having two points deducted for playing an unregistered player in the same game Worksop were really looking to get a win on home soil and get them back into league contention being on -2 points. Melbourne was the only side to beat Worksop in the league last season and for their efforts were also promoted into this tougher league where Melbourne could only muster a nil nil draw against Kesteven also in their first game. So only on 1 point in the table this meant that a win for the home side could keep Melbourne and Kesteven within their grasp as long as the latter team also lost. 　

Worksop finally up to full strength for the first time this season due to injuries, and other commitments, won the toss and opted to play into the sun which caused errors from the kick-offs and put themselves under immense pressure. Melbourne were soon to get on the score sheet purely through Worksop’s own errors and a converted try put the visitors 7 points in front.

Not to be outdone Worksop kicked off and good strong forward running on the right flank saw Worksop able to switch direction and pass the ball along their back division with fly-half Andy Waddell making good ground, Liam Beard then received the off-load only to pass to Captain Kevin McGuire to score in the corner to make the score 7 points to 5. The set piece was starting to work in Worksop’s favour with the scrummage starting to dominate and line-out with McGuire jumping at 4 was working well with little opposition from the Melbourne pack. Against the run of play Melbourne picked-up a loose ball and when passed to their very good winger No 11 who managed to skip through numerous tackles to score a brilliant individual try, unconverted taking the visitors back into the lead at 12 points to 5.