Old Cryptians U15s 15

Minchinhampton U15s 34

A DEPLETED Minchinhampton squad travelled to Tuffley to face Old Cryptians who, sportingly, lent the visitors a couple of players.

It was a real test for Minch to see if they could grind out a result against larger Gloucester opposition on a cloggy pitch.

The game started evenly with Minch shading territory and possession and it was slightly against the run of play when Old Crypts scored an opportunist try, catching the Minch backs on the turn and forcing a penalty try for an obvious pull back by the Minch full back.

Minch responded immediately through winger-turned-lock Charlie Day who powered over after a direct drive from the forwards to level the match.

A couple of Minch tries followed, from Calum Roe and a guest player, taking the half time score to 5-17.

Minch started the second half strongly and a forward drive resulted in a quick tap penalty from Nick Frank releasing Roe for his second try to make it 5-22.

Old Crypts came roaring back and battered their way back into the game with fine running try which caught Minch flat-footed.

Minch then launched an attack from deep in their own half through Ben Latham who manufactured an intelligent kick and chase and scored a fine try in the corner (10-27).

Old Crypts pulled another try back but a great driving maul from Minch allowed Liam Nash to cross the line for the final try of the match.

Man of the match, for orchestrating Minch's dominance in the scrum and line out, went to hooker and captain Connor Huntly.