Grimsby 22 Melton Mowbray 31
Plucky Blues are left empty-handed Key refereeing decisions robbed Grimsby Rugby Football Club's first team of
the biggest upset of the season. The bottom-of-the-league Blues turned the tables on top team Melton Mowbray at Springfield Road to race into a 19-0 lead. But a mixture of dubious whistle-blowing and an injection of pace from the visitors over-turned the score to see Mowbray win 31-22.
Grimsby started as they had failed to do all season. With pace and intensity they ruffled the league leaders, forcing mistakes
early on. The first score went to captain Ben Pharaoh who was in at fly-half. After prop Vinny Thornton kept the ball alive in the right corner it made it's way to Pharaoh who, seeing a gap at his opposite number, ghosted through for the try before converting the kick. Then the Blues started to play as they used to. The pack were dominating set pieces and bursting through the gain line with powerful ball-carrying from the likes of number eight Mike Newman and second row Tom Montague. Mowbray were pinned back again when Pharaoh collected, chipped and chased for his second try of the game.
Quick hands by full-back Dan Evans and wing Ed Studd sent the fly-half racing away again in search of his hat-trick.
After another kick and chase he scooped the ball up and shipped it to the supporting Studd, only for the referee to rule a forward pass. Nearing half-time, a pop pass inside from Pharaoh sent Newman through a gap at speed. He burst through four tackles and sent the crowd into raptures with the game's third try, which was converted. A few minutes before half-time outside centre Gavin Kempthorne wrapped up a Mowbray player, and several others helped him hold up the maul. But the referee gave a scrum to Mowbray who piled on the pressure before using extra numbers to peg the game back to 19-7.
After half-time a counter-attack try exploited Blues' leisurely reorganisation and brought the game back to 19-14. Then at a Blues' scrum on their 22-metre line, an illegally 'wheeled' scrum by the visitors went their way. Winger Alan Oliver dropped a chip-kick and the Division Three East North (East) leaders were back in touch. The first conversion was missed but the referee ordered a re-take after a Blues player shouted words of 'encouragement'. The second attempt went over and Mowbray were 21-19 up. A penalty from Pharaoh put the Blues back in front but the referee continued to take territorial advantage away from Grimsby with suspect penalties. Mowbray's swift backs killed the game with another couple of long-range tries to create the expected result. A much-improved all-round performance from Grimsby, especially the pack,
went unrewarded.