Minety kept in touch with the leading 4 teams in Dorset and Wilts Division 1 North with a convincing 41-3 victory at Swindon on Saturday.
The village side ran in 6 tries on a bitterly cold afternoon against a Swindon outfit languishing at the wrong end of the table.
Minety opened the scoring with a fine team try in the 4th minute. Scrum half Garin Garland collected the ball at the base of a scrum, passing to fly half Adam Watts. A clever miss move in the centre saw Jack Howse sprint clear before passing to winger Ben Langridge who pulled the defence wide before slipping the ball infield to flanker Josh Bull who ran in to touch down unopposed under the posts. Garland kicked the conversion and Minety were 7-0 up.
Minety kept up the pressure, pinning Swindon in their own half. They doubled their score in the 14th minute. Full back Tom McAllister collected his own high kick ahead, passing to winger Dave Cooke who burst through the defence to run in Minety’s 2nd try of the game and his 5th try of the season.
Garland collected the 3rd try in the 17th minute, picking up from the base of the scrum 30 metres out and beating off four defenders to touch down. With the successful conversion, Minety were 21-0 up with three quarters of the match still to be played.
Swindon used their heavier pack to disrupt Minety at the scrum and enjoyed territorial advantage but never seriously threatened the Minety line, consoling themselves with a penalty kick in the 23rd minute.
Minety captain Tom Claxton and his forwards dealt with Swindon attacks down the centre while strong tackling from Minety centres Howse and Matt Roberts halted backs moves out wide.
Garland extended the lead to 24-3 with a penalty on the cusp of half time.
Cold hands and a wet ball made ball handling difficult in the second half but strong running from Ash and Tom Windle forced Swindon back deep into their own half. Minety introduced Jack Ward, Gareth Thomas and Ben Collins and it was Ward’s break through the defence that allowed Roberts in for Minety’s 4th, and bonus point winning, try in the 50th minute.
Ward scored his first try of the season in the 55th minute. McAllister collected a partially charged down clearance and his long pass to Roberts opened up the defence. The pacey centre drew the final defender before releasing to Ward, who crashed over near the corner flag.
It was Ward who ended the scoring in the 61st minute with an outrageous dummy, bought by players from both sides and a few spectators on the touchline. His break allowed him to score beneath the posts. Garland’s conversion was successful and Minety ran out 41-3 winners.
Coach Andy Grayson was positive about the performance. “We played some good rugby and looked really dangerous when we used our full back line. We played an expansive game and off loaded well out of the tackle. We need to be more accurate in our passing next Saturday when we come up against a useful Melksham team in our final match of the first half of the season.”
In the weekend’s other match, Minety 2nd XV went down 52-7 at top of the table Corsham, who maintained their 100% rfecord in the league this season. Minety’s cause was not helped by having only 12 players for the match, many of those playing out of position.
Next week the 1st XV host Melksham while the seconds look forward to the visit of Devizes. Full previews will be available on this site during the week.
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