RUGBY UPDATE: Dominant Minch defeat Tetbury to make cup semi final

Minchinhampton 29 Tetbury 0

MINCHINHAMPTON started their Stroud Combination Junior Cup run with a dominant home performance against Tetbury.

From the off it was clear Minch held the upper hand in most departments.

Fielding a long kick downfield from Tetbury, full back Jamie Luke ran the ball back well to set the platform for the backs to attack and swift hands from Jake Muskett, Joe Langford and Ed Wright freed Tom Fitzcharles to score out wide.

From the restart the home side moved the ball quickly using second rows Matt Austin and Dan Wood to gain 60 yards before being halted by a knock-on.

The game then settled into a more even pattern before ill-discipline changed the balance of power, with a Tetbury player receiving a red and a Minch player getting a yellow.

Despite Tetbury’s improved and more aggressive defence, the man advantage told once Minch were restored to full strength.

Blindside flanker Niall Kimber beat two men to score in the corner and the score remained at 10-0 to Minchinhampton at half-time.

The second half started where the first left off, as Minch used Fraser Smith and Matt Jenns to gain midfield yards and they started to click as a team with good interplay between forwards and backs.

An attack through Mike Evans and Jonty Messer was undone at the try line by another knock-on, but the Minch pack fancied a pushover against the head and duly delivered with Smith dotting down after a great drive from all eight. Muskett found his range to add the conversion.

On the restart Tetbury established themselves in the Minch 22, with only last-ditch tackles from Langford and Ben Read keeping the visitors at bay. But then scrum half Dan Tedham and Smith combined well to release Tom Fitzcharles on the halfway line and he dummied his way through to finish under the posts, to make it 24-0 after 60 minutes.

Tetbury rallied and again pressed hard for a score, though forced to run everything due to Minch’s dominance in the forwards.

With spaces opening up winger Jones scored his first try for Minch to take the final score to 29-0.

Minch move on to play either Cainscross or Cirencester seconds in the semi final.

Coach Mike Crawford said: "I'm happy with that. We've had a long break, so were a bit rusty.

"To stop the opposition scoring is always a real positive. We are looking forward to another good local derby in the next round."