Saturday 3 October 2009
Dorset & Wilts Division 2 North
Minety fail to capitalise
Melksham 2nd XV 18 pts – Minety 2nd XV 10pts
Dominant up front, Minety seconds failed to capitalise on their advantage and were hit by a late try from Melksham.
Melksham opened the scoring as one of their forwards charged down a clearance kick and rumbled through for an early try.
Minety came back strongly and were soon bossing the game. Their pack was in rampant form and Melksham had no answer to their powerful rolling mauls. Speedy Gethin Roberts was in fine form at flanker and, behind the scrum, scrumhalf Andy Brown had an outstanding game and tackled ferociously.
Number 8 Andrew Hibbard evened the score for Minety with a purposeful try from 10 metres out. Andy Edwards kicked the conversion and then added a penalty to make it 5-10 in Minety’s favour at the break.
The hosts hit back with a try early in the second half, after which Minety returned to the attack. With 10 minutes to go, the visitors were pressing hard when Melksham gathered a kick ahead and replied with a long punt of their own. Chasing hard, the home winger beat his wrong-footed opponents to the ball and clattered up field for a try against the run of play that sealed the result.
Although disappointed with the result, Minety skipper Steve Murray was delighted with his team’s performance. “We were great for 79 minutes,” he commented after the game. “It was that minute of inattention that cost up the game.”
This Saturday, Minety seconds play hosts to the Combe Down 2nd XV.
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