Sunday 20 April 2008

Minety u7s & u8s: great finish to remarkable season

Minety RFC Junior section is currently on a real high, which was encapsulated by the tremendous performances from the under 7s and 8s against Supermarine at the weekend.

 

The under 7s were under pressure to maintain their unbeaten record away to a strong Supermarine squad. With two of their best players, Hannah and William, absent because of parental commitments and Charlie not making it for the kick off, things looked tough from the start. The six strong Minety team’s challenge was made even harder when Supermarine opted to play eight-a-side insteade of the normal seven and had enough players to field two teams! 

 

Undaunted, the depleted Minety team agreed to play back-to-back matches against both Supermarine teams. George stood up as Captain and having lost the toss, organised his defence. After quickly stealing Supermarine ball with some aggressive tagging, Morgan scored an awesome try from his own half, sidestepping most of his opponents on the way. Moments later, he went over again in the corner, giving the away team a two-nil advantage. The rest of the game saw some of the best rugby of the season, with tries from Harry, Ruben and George, combined with some unbelievable defence, notably from Julian, who never looked like letting a Supermarine player through on his side of the pitch.

 

The first game ended as a thoroughly deserved 6-4 win for Mintey.

 

The second game continued in the same vein even though the tired Minety team were up against a brand new Supermarine eight! Charlie finally arrived to bolster the team and bring their numbers up to seven. With his first touch of the ball he scored from the half way line. Joseph’s defence remained a strong as it had in the first match and we saw some inspired play from the whole team.

 

Supermarine battled hard and got within one try of the visitors, but most on the touchline felt that the final score of 7-6 to Minety was a fair reflection of the game.

 

The first of the under 8s games against Supermarine was a tenacious affair with both sides showing good attacking and defensive skills, The game had outstanding performances from Josh, Ewan and George, who all showed great skills in attack. The game deservedly finished in a draw at eight each, the crowd having been entertained by an excellent game of tag rugby.

 

The second match was a different story. The Minety trio of Joe, Harry and George defended like lions and Supermarine found it increasingly difficult to find ways through to the try line. Minety even turned ball over on several occasions, running it straight back at the opposition. Good straight running from Alice, James and Sam consistently unlocked the opposition's defence and gave the likes of Ewan and Josh all the space they needed to score some excellently worked tries. The game finished 9 – 3 in Minety’s favour with everyone in agreement that it was a well earned win.

 

Some very experienced rugby fans on the sideline were heard to comment that in the history of Minety RFC there had probably never been better performances by two teams in one day.  A fantastic way to end a great season and all the players should be extremely proud of themselves.

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Sunday 14 October 2007

CATs snatch narrow win over Minety

U13/14 Cooper Avon Tyres 34pts - U13/14 Minety 31pts

 

 

 

The second half was a different story as it gradually became apparent that the Melksham side had their own ideas about who was going to end up on top. The game became more competitive and as the list of injuries mounted for Minety so the points tally began to rise for Cooper Avon Tyres. In the end, the home team finished the stronger and managed to edge out a keenly fought match by 34 points to 31.

 

Minety's man of the match was Andy Park.

Minety: Andy Park, Jack Templeman, Reece Kinnett, Will Bish,  Keiran Evett, Tom Claxton, Brian Harris, Josh Gainey ,Ben Thomas (1 try & 3 conversions), Elis Garland (1 try), Danny Parsons, Alex Miriam (2 tries), James New, Joby Neal, William Harwood (1 try), Martin Parsons, Samuel Poole & Sam Hurcombe.