Calne 27 - Minety 17
Minety, struggling in 11th place in the league, travelled to fellow strugglers Calne on Saturday, but despite registering three second half tries, came away with nothing and remain just one place off the bottom of Division1.
Fielding another changed lineup, player coach James Irving and club captain Andrew Hibbard, knew that they would be in for a battle against a Calne team bristling with aggression and ambition.
Minety slipped behind in the 4th minute when Calne scored the first of their four tries and then were 10 points down after 24 minutes from a penalty.
Calne increased their lead to 17 unanswered points at half time with another converted try as Minety found it difficult to compete physically with the large Calne squad on a bleak and windswept pitch.
Giving a season debut to James Stuart, who had travelled all the way from London to play on the wing, and shuffling the backs, moving Dave Cooke to inside centre alongside Irving at fly half and Chris Rule at outside centre, whatever was said at half time certainly galvanised the Minety team.
After a fine forwards move Matt Chisholm reduced the arrears in the 49th minute with a try. Calne hit back 9 minutes later with their third try before Chisholm was again on the spot to crash over for his second try in the 63rd minute.
Calne gathered their fourth, and bonus point winning, try in the 73rd minute to extend the lead to 27-10.
The final minutes saw Minety push forward for the two tries that would salvage at least one bonus point but despite Matt Stone’s 75th minute try, converted by scrum half Sam Hughes, they were denied a point.
Scott Glew made only his second appearance for the 1st XV, playing alongside son Mark, coming on late when flanker Morgan Aubrey picked up a nasty looking ankle injury. Scott last played two seasons ago in a fixture at Avonvale.
Final score: Calne 27 Minety 17
Squad: Mark Glew, Jay Thompson, Hugo Beanland, Ben Scott, Matt Stone, Matt Chisholm, Morgan Aubrey, Andrew Hibbard (c), Sam Hughes, James Irving, James Stuart, Dave Cooke, Chris Rule, Sam Thomspon and Del Murray. Replacement Scott Glew.
In the weekend’s other fixture, Minety 2nd XV travelled to top of the table Chippenham in Division 3 but were beaten 37 – 5.