Gloucester Two
Minchinhampton 26
Bristol Aeroplane Co. 17
AFTER a frustrating loss at Bream on the opening day, Minchinhampton got their first points on the board with a 26-17 win over Bristol Aeroplane Company (BAC) at Hollybush.

From the start Minch’s intensity and pace was too much for BAC.

Strong ball carries from the backs led to a score in the fourth minute for captain Sean Price, converted by full back Will Goodwin.

The restart brought another wave of Minchinhampton pressure with ex-England star Mike Tindall carrying strongly before a clever offload let in Tom Goulding to score; the conversion made it 14-0 after just seven minutes.

BAC responded with determination putting Minch on the back foot in their own 22 but a series of outstanding defensive tackles held BAC at bay.

Then a seemingly endless passage of play where neither side could assert their dominance was broken by a scrum turnover and clever backs play leading to the Minch second row Ian Williams scoring from close range. The conversion was good for a 21-0 lead.

Again BAC responded using their big forwards to make yardage, before some good pace and a great hand-off allowed the BAC No.12 to score under the posts, making the score 21-7 at half-time.

A reinvigorated BAC put Minch under immediate pressure in the second half. They worked the ball upfield using a driving maul before releasing their No.8 to score on 46 minutes (21-14).

A series of knock-ons and penalty awards resulted in BAC reducing the lead still further with a penalty. Then BAC threw everything they had at Minch, but an improved defence held strong.

A couple of Minch attacks then just fell short thanks to a knock-on or good defensive work from the visitors.

The atmosphere was tense which was not helped when a try which would have given BAC the lead was struck off as the ref could not see the grounding.

This woke up Minch, and a series of carries from their tireless pack led to Tom Jenns making the final score 26-17 out wide on 72 minutes.

An excellent game of rugby played by two attack-minded sides finished with both teams out on their feet.

Minchinhampton 1st XV travel to Cheltenham Civil Service for a cup game this weekend with their confidence high following a promising pre-season and good start to the league.

Last weekend also saw wins for the Minchinhampton U14, U16 and Colts in their first matches.