Easy win against Calne for Minety RFC's confident first team (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Easy win against Calne for Minety RFC's confident first team

LOOKING relaxed and confident after a week's break, Minety made light work of Saturday's home fixture against league rivals Calne.

They scored a try in each half and calmly absorbed whatever the visitors had to throw at them in between.

Calne started with a bang, scrummaging aggressively and threatening to push their hosts off the pitch.

This initial explosion of energy soon burned itself out, however, and it was Minety who eventually took control of the game.

Pressuring their opponents with a series of rolling mauls and short runs by the forwards, they were awarded a penalty in easy range of the line.

Fly-half James Tweedale duly stepped up to kick the goal to give Minety a three-point lead with a quarter of an hour gone.

Five minutes later and a delicate kick ahead found the visitors' defence scrambling for the ball deep in their own 22.

No sooner had a Calne player gathered the ball, than he was enveloped by the Minety back row and dispossessed.

A brief maul ensued, ending when the home forwards drove blindside flanker Charlie Gawthropp over the line for a try.

Tweedale successfully posted the conversion and soon added a penalty goal, albeit with the assistance of a deflection off an upright.

After 25 minutes of play and a persistent series of infringements, the Calne scrum-half was sent to the sin-bin for failing to roll away after the tackle.

An excellent, last-ditch tackle prevented Minety scoring a second try, but another Tweedale penalty goal ensured that the sides turned round at the interval with the score 16-0 in the home team's favour.

Calne took the opportunity to regroup over half-time and came out looking much stronger and more cohesive.

Taking the game to their hosts, they several times came within metres of scoring, only to be foiled by Minety's well-organised defence.

Minety full-back Rodney Park had an excellent game, catching the high ball flawlessly and repeatedly running it back at the opposition.

Mid-way through the half, Calne began to run out of steam and the final quarter of the game saw Minety on the attack once more.

And a five-metre scrum gave centre Paul Harrington an opportunity to charge his way to the line.

Though the Calne defence managed to bring him down just short, his team-mates were right behind him to recycle the ball and feed it to scrum-half Andy Brown, who pounced over the line for Minety's second try.

Another accurate kick from Tweedale made it 23-0 and, as the final whistle sounded, Minety once more camped deep in their opponents' 22.