Friday night under the lights at Beveridge Park is always something to look forward to and the visit of the current league leaders added to the occasion.

Stewart's Melville kicked off and after some initial contests the Blues set out their intentions with a strong initial scrum. However, after some scrappy play the visitors opened the scoring after 5 minutes with a well worked try out on the wing, duly converted it was 0-7.

In response, a strong carry by Connor Wood and a neat kick from Fin Smith led to the Kennedy twins passing their way through the Stew Mel defence and Callum Kennedy scoring the well worked try, unconverted it was 5-7 after 10 minutes.

A strong run by Rory Brown and then Craig Hamilton found the Kennedy twins once more who then returned the ball infield to the hooker, who stepped the defence and ran in a try from the Stew Mel 22. A well worked team try, unconverted and it was 10-7 after 12 minutes.
After 16 minutes another strong scrum from the Blues resulted in a penalty which Fin Smith slotted, and it was 13-7.
Stew Mel then re grouped and put pressure on the Blues with a series of probing kicks to test the Blues back line. The Blues coped well and when bringing the ball from defence a misplaced pass found its way into the visitor's hands and once more they scored out wide, duly converted and it was 13-14 after 24 minutes.

The Blues were again challenged under the high ball as Stew Mel attempted to break a resolute defensive line. Connor Littlejohn coped well under pressure and the Blues cleared their lines neatly. As the visitors gathered the ball they were dispossessed by a combination Craig Hamilton and Mark Duckett making a nuisance of themselves and the ball found its way to Callum Kennedy for his second try of the evening, converted by Fin Smith it was 20-14 after 32 minutes.

Tireless running by Rory Brown and some great work from the pack led to him crashing through to score after 37 minutes, converted by Fin Smith it was 27-14.

Approaching half time some neat work by Fin Smith and Rory Brown looked promising until Avi Nailatica was stopped in his tracks by a solid challenge, the ball was turned over and immediately Avi returned the compliment and stopped Stew Mel in their tracks. Half time 27-14.

The second half began strongly for the Blues and some fine play from Avi Nailatica and Calum Kennedy put Connor Littlejohn in for a try. Converted by Fin Smith it was 34-14 after 46 minutes.

One of two things happened in the next period of the game, either the Blues thought the job was done, and took their foot off the gas or Stew Mel realised the game was getting away from them. Probably a combination of the two, and the visitors provided two converted tries after some hard graft. After 69 minutes it was 34-28 and game on once more.

The Blues regained some control of the game with the forwards working hard and the backs having a real go to turn the momentum back in the Blues favour. A penalty was won after some concerted pressure and Fin Smith stepped up and converted the penalty and it was 37-28 after 72 minutes.

This was indeed a great watch, the visitors working tirelessly, some great defensive work and strong running by Rory Brown from deep in his half to relieve some of the pressure the visitors were applying Timmy Kennedy then picked up a yellow card after a collision with a Stew Mel player, which although unintentional was warranted and probably fortunate to not be worse, for what looked like head on head collision.

Down to 14 players with 6 minutes to go, the Blues had to focus on defending their try line and 5 metre area.

After 77 minutes the visitors scored a deserved try as they had been repelled many times by a solid Blues defence, duly converted and it was a two-point game going into the final minutes.

The Blues adopted a disciplined approach, and the pack did its job at scrums and line outs right to the end, keeping possession and providing the Captain the opportunity to put the ball out of play at full time 37-35.

A mix of younger players and older heads on display tonight and some really strong individual performances on display gave the Blues the edge. Highly entertaining for the spectators on both sides, a great advert for the game and not a bad way to spend a Friday night.