MINETY extended their winning streak to a fifth game by edging a tight contest away Chippenham 2nd.

Playing into a strong wind, Minety dug deep to repel early pressure from the hosts but fell behind to a penalty after 15 minutes.

The visitors then began to force Chippenham back into their 22m and scrum-half Garin Garland was able to tie the scores with a penalty of his own.

With the wind making fluent rugby difficult, Chippenham pushed Minety back and regained the lead on the half-hour with yet another penalty.

Centre Jack Ward orchestrated several fluid attacks from Minety’s half, while powerful running from Max Sparrow and Matt Cross led to a difficult chance for flanker Stephen Brown but the ball was lost before the tryline could be breached.

As the half progressed, Minety began to exert more pressure, keeping passes short and using rolling mauls to move towards the Chippenham line. Their efforts were rewarded in five minutes before the break through a try in the corner from young fly-half Tom McAllister.

Minety failed to capitalise on their lead after the interval as even with the advantage of a swirling wind at their backs, they were unable to exert any territorial pressure and Chippenham broke through to score a try of their own.

Ill-discipline, brought about by frustration, led to Minety conceding a penalty in front of their posts, which Chippenham converted to pull further clear.

With time running out and now down 14-8, Minety gained dominance at the scrum and began to play the sort of rugby that had won them the Dorset and Wilts Vase Trophy two weeks earlier.

This turnaround paid off five minutes from time when a quick tap-and-go from Garland put Max Sparrow clear to score under the posts. The conversion was added by Garland and Minety served a tense final few minutes with a one-point advantage to keep hold of second place in the table.