Saturday 11 January 2014
Dorset & Wilts Division 1 North
Nip and Tuck
Minety 1st XV 16pts – Supermarine 1st XV 16pts
In a thrillingly close encounter, Minety and Supermarine battled out a tense draw, with the visitors just managing to pull level with the final kick of the game.
Playing downhill, Minety opened the scoring with a try from flanker Steve Brown. Skipper Jack Ward kicked the conversion, but a try by Supermarine’s Killian Spain got the visitors back into the game.
Stu Dawson missed the conversion but then put his team ahead with a penalty goal.
The visitors continued to attack up the hill but were unable to break Minety’s defence. Having weathered the storm, the home side spent the last 10 minutes of the half on the offensive but failed to score, leaving it at 7-8 at the interval.
Taking advantage of the slope, Supermarine returned to the attack after the break and having mounted a forward push down the left flank, released the ball to their backs. Excellent handling and a neat pass out of the tackle set up a three on one overlap and secured the best try of the game.
Minety responded by upping the pace and suddenly the visitors were struggling. Under pressure in his own 22, the Supermarine inside centre deliberately knocked on to prevent Minety scoring and was promptly yellow carded. Ward slotted the penalty and the game seemed to be swinging back the home team’s way.
Supermarine botched the restart and from the resulting scrum, Minety fought their way back up the slope. The visitors defended stoutly and did their best to disrupt their opponents’ scrum, but an offside handed Ward an easy chance at goal, which he booted to draw the teams level.
Minety kept Supermarine on the rack, and when the referee spotted one of the visitors stamping on an opponents’ face, he once more drew out a yellow card. Ward again slotted the penalty to edge his team ahead.
Minety appeared to have the game in the bag until a scrum collapsed in the final minute of the game. The referee awarded the visitors a penalty and Dawson coolly hoofed over a long range goal to level the scores.
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