Saturday 28 September 2013
Dorset & Wilts Division 1
Seven tries for Minety
Minety 1st XV 43pts – Pewsey Vale 1st XV 0pts
Nimble running and great support play enabled Minety to overwhelm Pewsey Vale and run in seven tries, while their determined tackling ensured a clean sheet in defence.
What a difference a week makes. Outplayed by Fairford the previous Saturday, Minety took defeat on the chin, rejigged their side, and came back this week with renewed vigour and even greater determination.
In contrast, Pewsey found themselves struggling for players and were forced to cancel their second team fixture and cobble together a combined side to take on their Wiltshire rivals. Under the circumstances, the resulting team played remarkably well and enjoyed long periods of possession and territorial advantage. What they couldn’t do, though, was crack their host’s steely defence, and nor could they cope with Minety’s collective pace on the break.
Within minutes of the kick-off, number 8 Jack Ward was darting away from his opponents, creating space for centre Matt Roberts to finish the move with an early try.
Then Ward himself was scoring, picking up off the back of a driving maul following an attacking lineout. Two metres out and no one could stop him as he piled over the whitewash.
Sprinting all the way from the 10 metre line, scrumhalf Tom Fitzcharles added try number three.
The fourth try was a full team effort, with ball won by the forwards and passed all the way down the threequarter line to winger Duncan Simpson. Taking the ball on halfway, he dodged his cover, pinned his ears back and galloped off on an angled run for a try under the posts.
Centre Luke Radcliffe converted all four of Minety’s first-half tries, though Pewsey missed a penalty goal attempt late in the half.
After the interval, the hosts were straight back at it. Skipper Pete Hazell and lineout catcher Gethin Roberts both touched down over the line, only to be brought back for earlier infringements. No such problems for fullback Robin Greenway, who finished a patient build-up in Pewsey’s 22 with a try in the left-hand corner.
Minety put on a shove to prevent Pewsey winning clean ball at a scrum deep in their 22. The scrumhalf grabbed the ball but though he managed to flick it away to his number 10, Minety flyhalf Phil Stephens was on him like a shot, hassling him as tried to take the pass. When the ball went loose across the line, Stephens instantly dived on it for the try.
Pewsey then enjoyed a period in their opponents’ half, but their hosts’ well organised defence refused to give ground and when finally Ward got his hands on the ball in his own 22, he was off again, jinking past opponents and racing downfield. Piers Dixon took Ward’s pass when he was eventually tackled, cutting back infield, where he linked with hooker Wes Clamp, steaming up in support.
Clamp then neatly side-stepped the last defender to end the game with a seventh and final try for Minety.
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