Dorset & Wilts Div One North

Royal Wootton Bassett II 19

Minety 12

TWO key mistakes led to Minety's 19-12 defeat in a tight local derby with Royal Wootton Bassett, who were boosted by a number of first-teamers returning to action after injury, writes Graham Cooke.

Conversely, Minety were without club captain Andrew Hibbard, and were further hampered when vice captain Will North pulled out ill on the morning of the match and then influential centre Jack Ward turned an ankle in the warm-up and was withdrawn.

Playing downhill, and with a fierce wind behind them, Minety used fly half Tom McAllister’s kicking ability to drive Bassett back deep into their own half to allow the hastily reshuffled side time to settle into the match.

Somewhat against the run of play, Bassett took an early lead in the ninth minute.

Minety chose to run a ball out of defence, when perhaps a clearance kick would have been the better option. Possession was lost and Bassett’s backs moved the ball swiftly to their right winger, who crossed in the corner.

Minety hit back straight away and flanker Josh Bull was stopped close to the line by a last-ditch tackle. From the ensuing ruck, prop Owen Richardson was held up on the line.

The visitors did open their account after a period of sustained pressure. With Garland orchestrating attack after attack, the scrum half threw a huge pass to centre John Blair who offloaded to Tom Windle for a score out on the left.

Garland’s long-range conversion was successful and Minety rebuffed a series of Bassett attacks to go into the break 7-5 up.

Minety dominated possession and territory after the break, captain Tom Claxton driving forward on the crash ball while Garland used his backs well to spread play.

Bassett regained the lead with one of their first incursions into Minety territory in the 56th minute. A huge clearance kick pushed the visitors back into their own 22 and when they tried to run the ball out of defence a pass went astray and Bassett pounced to score out wide on the left.

An excellent conversion from the touch line extended the home side’s lead to five points (12-7).

With both sides visibly tiring, the injury count also rose alarmingly as the game entered the final quarter.

The match was settled in a dramatic 90-second period starting in the 74th minute.

Winger Dave Cooke was fed the ball from a ruck, drew the covering defender and passed to full back Chris Rule, who ran in to score Minety’s second try to bring the scores level.

Straight from the kick-off the ball was spilled and Bassett picked up and ran in for their third decisive try beneath the posts.

The conversion was successful and despite Minety pressure in the last five minutes, the game was lost 19-12.

Stand-in captain Claxton said: “It was frustrating; we made two mistakes and were punished for both. The lads put in a terrific shift and I was proud to be captain of a side that put so much into the match.”

In the weekend’s other game Minety's 2nd XV, captained by Matt Stone, came away from Swindon with a fine 27-7 victory to boost their position in Dorset and Wilts Div Three North.