Saturday 10 October 2009
Southern Counties South
Injury-hit Minety struggle in second half
Devizes 1st XV 61 pts – Minety 1st XV 0 pts
As injuries whittled down their playing resources, Minety leaked points.
With regular backs Max Sparrow and Andrew Taylor unavailable for this game, Minety started with plenty of resolve but a weakened threequarter line. The pack performed well, matching or besting Devizes in scrums and lineouts. All this was to no avail, however, as, yet again, Minety missed their tackles and failed to communicate clearly or organise effectively in defence.
Devizes took full advantage and ran in three tries before the break.
Seventeen-nil down but competing well in the set pieces, Minety still fancied their chances for a second-half come-back. But as a series of injuries forced Matt Plummer, James Stewart, Dave Church and Jack Ward from the field, Minety used up their two available substitutes and, with quarter of an hour still to go, were down to 13 men.
Faced by fewer defenders, Devizes ran in more tries, racking up 61 points by the final whistle.
Tom Fitzcharles had the best chances to score for the visitors. Twice he dashed almost the length of the field only to be brought down just short of the line. Another few metres would have done it, but it was not to be and Minety failed to get any points on the board.
Although concerned for his injured players, Minety skipper Craig Smith was philosophical about the result of the game. “That was a much better performance by our forwards. The final score flatters them a little, but we missed tackles. When we get that sorted and get our injured and missing players back, we’ll turn this round.”
This Saturday, Minety are at home to Frome.
For an opposition view of the game, have a look at this report which appeared in The Swindon Advertiser: http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/sport/sportheadlines/4676404.RUGBY__Devizes_61_Minety_0/