Minety 12 - 54 Chippenham II
Minety RFC took to the field in the opening preseason game having not play a game of
competitive rugby in over 500 days and with a mix and match team of players playing out of
position.
Kicking down the hill to open the game Minety looked to put pressure on the Chippenham
pack and had some limited success in building that pressure and creating knock ons to get
scrum ball. However, through a lack of match fitness and rustiness the host failed to
capitalise on the few chances that came their way. The hosts where hindered further when
they lost vice-captain Sam Hughes and had to go down to 14 men for the remainder of the
half. Chippenham opened that score early in the first half and dominated for the first 40
minutes scoring 40 unanswered points with Minety struggling to find rhythm in attack or
defence.
The second half couldn’t have looked more different. Minety going up the hill got their
defensive sets right and lead by the pack and the addition of a 15 th man in Garin Garland
managed to push the visitors back up the hill and pin them there for large swaths of the
second half. Minety scored first in the second half after Minety won scrum ball in the
opposition half and a break from Garland and swift offload to Dave Cooke saw the host
score next to the posts. Garland converted. The second of Minetys tries came from another
dominate showing from the forward pack picking up some penalties to get a lineout in the
corner. A well-executed lineout catch and drive allowed space for Garland to ferret his way
over in the corner. Unfortunately for the hosts a few mistakes lead to a answering try from
Chippenham that spurred them on to push hard and finish the half in the lead at 12-14.
Speaking of the match after the game Captain Ben Scott said: “I am proud of the lads who
turned out to day with many playing out of position it was always going to be a tough game
against a well drilled Chippenham side who have already had some games under their belt. I
would however like to pick out a player of the match, and this week that has to go to Anton
Sieluzycki. Today was his first game of Rugby and his first taste of the front row. He played
well in the loose carrying when he needed to and offering support lines to others. His
lineout was solid and helped build a platform for us to play off but where he shined was in
the scrum. With him, Matt Park and Andy Darrall winning us scrum penalties in the second
half it allowed us to relieve pressure and get out of our half to really get stuck into
Chippenham and to play the way we wanted.”