Walsall completed their league campaign for the season with a hard-fought victory over their Derbyshire opponents. The win sees the Walsall team finish third in Midlands Regional 2 and must now prepare for the play offs.

It was the visitors that opened the scoring after fifteen minutes, a series of scrums saw Mackenzie Welsh being driven over for the try which Ben Phelps converted. The hosts had created several good attacking plays and should have made better use of their possession. But two late scores in the half saw them establish a seven-point lead at the interval. Scrum half Dean Ainger darted over from the base of a scrum. While the final action of the half saw full back Ben Pitt make a good run before finding Adam Tamilio in support. The winger finished off well from twenty yards. Captain Adam Nunney converted both scores.

The Melbourne team made a perfect start after the interval. Good ball retention and well-timed passes saw winger Brayton Taylor finish off well. Two minutes later Taylor was over for another try after Walsall lost possession. Phelps put over the conversion to give his team a five-point lead. But it was the hosts that finished the strongest. Captain Nunney added a penalty, then some good inter-passing resulted in winger Max Brown going through for a try from twenty yards. Ten minutes later the final try of the game came after Walsall’s hard working forward Matt James made a superb run . He was tackled just short of the try line, but flank forward George Hill supported well and crossed for the try. The final ten minutes of the game saw the hosts having to defend for long periods. They also suffered a couple of injuries which will affect the strength of the team for their play off games.

They begin their play off campaign with a home game next Saturday against the fourth placed team in the league, Melbourne!!