Chippenham 2nd XV v Minety 1st XV

Saturday 29 March 2014

Dorset & Wilts Division 1 North

Six tries for Minety

Chippenham 2nd XV 8pts – Minety 1st XV 37pts

Minety maintained their pursuit of the league title with a wholehearted demolition of Chippenham seconds in their penultimate game of the season.

The visitors had the best of the early exchanges and though Chippenham did eventually launch an attack of their own, Minety tackled them to a halt and ripped the ball free. Skipper Jack Ward took the pass and sliced though the defence with a show-and-go for the first try of the game.

Again capitalising on turnover ball, flanker Steve Brown made a decisive break and drew the fullback before offloading to Tom Fitzcharles, who sped in for Minety’s second.

Chippenham’s only points of the half came from a penalty goal, making it 3-10 at the break.

Clean ball from an attacking lineout and quick rucking got the visitors on their way in the second half. When Ward flipped the point of attack, his fancy footwork broke the line and a well-timed pass set winger Dale Langdown away for a dash to the corner and try number three.

When Minety failed to gather the restart, though, the Chippenham pack pounced on the loose ball and swarmed through for a try.

The rest of the game was all Minety. The front row of Martin Coe, Wes Clamp and Andy Hurley completely outscrummaged their opponents, and when the home side fumbled lineout ball, Tom Windle was on hand to snap it up and launch an attack. Fullback Robin Greenway joined the line at pace, sold a dummy and broke through for the vital fourth, bonus-point, try.

A break and an offload by Max Smith set up winger Duncan Simpson, who sped through a crowded defence for a try, skilfully retaining his balance despite a last-ditch tap-tackle from his opposite number.

Fine running and rucking by Gareth Peirce and Andrew Hibbard caused Chippenham no end of problems, and when they conceded a penalty, Ward calmly banged it over.

Centres Radcliffe and Church gained further territory for Minety, which Ward consolidated with a sneaky grubber kick to touch. Chippenham failed to secure ball from the resulting line out, allowing Smith to snaffle possession, flatten the scrumhalf and land Minety’s sixth and final try of the afternoon.