Saturday 30 January 2010
Southern Counties South
Minety fade away
Minety 24 pts – Dorchester 36 pts
An inspired first half from Minety faded away as Dorchester stormed back after the break.
It was even-stevens for the first 15 minutes as a much improved Minety contained Dorchester in the middle of the park. But an attacking break down the left flank finally gave the Villagers a scrum deep in their opponents’ 22, and when Dorchester attempted to clear their lines, Minety gathered the ball and fed it to flyhalf Jack Ward, who coolly snapped a drop goal.
Things looked hopeful for Minety as they scrummaged purposefully and ran the ball to good effect, but Dorchester were soon showing their paces. Some mazy running and slick passing from their threequarters put inside centre Adam Jones over for a try, which he then converted.
An apparent try in response by Minety fullback Reuben Saunders was disallowed and it wasn’t long before Dorchester had worked the ball back upfield. They created a four-man overlap on the right of the pitch enabling outside centre Lee Harvey to crash over for a try by the corner flag.
Trailing 3-12, Minety then conjured up a brilliant quarter of an hour which saw them first catch and then substantially pass their guests. First came a try for centre Max Sparrow, capitalising on a fine break and inside pass from winger Will Howse. Then Minety’s other winger, Ed Ackerman, scored, coming onto the ball at pace as Sparrow adroitly slipped him a pass out of the tackle. Finally Sparrow struck again, selling an outrageous dummy before cutting through a gap and skittering over for a try from 15 metres out.
Ward successfully kicked all three conversions and the sides turned round with Minety 24-12 ahead.
The second half was a different story, with an early Jones penalty goal from Dorchester setting the tone. Patiently, the visitors worked their way back into the game, denying Minety ball, kicking for territory and closing down attempted breaks.
Another penalty goal from Jones made it 24-18 before Devizes skipper Dave Gower made a break from the back of a maul to jink in for a try that brought the visitors to within a single point of Minety.
With 15 minutes to go, Minety were still hanging on to their slender lead, but when Jones burst onto the ball on the right wing, he was able to step inside the last defender and land the try that put Devizes back in front once more.
After that, the home side were forced to play catch-up, running from deep and trying to take their chances. In the event, Jones kicked another penalty goal for the visitors before replacement lock Lee King finished off the game with a late try in the corner.
This Saturday, Minety play at home against Wimborne.
–0-0–
Minety caused Dorchester all kinds of problems for the first forty minutes but in the end Dorchester’s superior fitness and all round ability prevailed.”
The report on the game on the Dorchester RFC website is a pretty fair account of what happened (and corrects some of the names Nigel got wrong). To find out how the opposition saw the match, click here: http://www.dorchester-rfc.co.uk/match_reports_0910/minety_away.php