Saturday 9 February 2013
Dorset & Wilts Division 1 North
Mud Masters
Minety 1st XV 27pts – Devizes 2nd XV 3pts
On a quagmire pitch, a patient and hard-working Minety contained Devizes and ran in five tries for a bonus point win.
Devizes fullback Ryan Webb kicked a penalty goal to give his side an early lead.
Playing uphill, Minety soon struck back with a score from Dale Langdown, powering over from short range for a try in the corner.
A chip ahead from Michael New wrong-footed the visitors. Following up at pace, Steve Brown scooped up the ball on Devizes’ 22 and no one could catch him as he sped in for Minety’s second try.
Each side had a player yellow carded, but while Devizes could make no headway against Minety’s resolute tackling, the home side continued to look dangerous as they attacked up the slope.
Awarded a penalty some 30 metres out, Minety piled left, tying in their opponents’ forwards before recycling the ball and shipping it in the other direction. Fullback Robin Greenway came into the line on the burst, dodged the struggling defence and hot-footed it over the line for try number three.
Prop Martin Coe’s successful conversion made it 17-3 at the interval.
Coe was in scoring action again at the start of the second half. Having kicked to touch some 10 metres from their opponents’ try line, Minety snagged the ball at the resulting lineout and set up a maul. Devizes couldn’t hold them and Coe was driven over for a try.
The visitors raised their game after that, but though their pack scrummaged well and their jumpers stole more than their share of possession at the lineout, they were unable to make significant progress with the ball in hand. Minety repeatedly tackled them to a standstill and drove them back into their own 22.
The home side’s persistence was eventually rewarded. Kicking deep into the visitors’ territory and following up at pace, Minety’s eager foragers caught a defender in possession and ripped the ball free. They slipped it to number 8 Gareth Peirce, who splattered over the line for Minety’s fifth and final try.