ANDREW Hibbard ran in a hat-trick of tries, while Sam Hughes claimed a personal haul of 24 points as Minety saw off Pewsey Vale 39-22 in Dorset & Wilts One North.

Pewsey started the match kicking down the slope, but soon found the hosts making incursions into their territory and Minety opened the scoring in the fifth minutes when Sam Hughes picked up the ball 30m out and beat five defenders to score beneath the posts.

The visitors used the slope well and good kicking soon saw them camped on the Minety tryline, using their mobile pack and powerful backs to pin the home side back.

Strong tackling by Matt Chisholm and Duncan Simpson frustrated Pewsey’s attempts, although Minety’s cause was not helped when Garin Garland had to be helped from the pitch after sustaining what looked to be a concussion.

Pewsey scored their first try shortly afterwards when a forwards’ move saw them push over the tryline, although the missed conversion kept the home side in front.

The visitors were denied another try when the final pass of a fluent crossfield move went forward.

Minety were able to extend their lead before the break when a lung-busting run from Andrew Hibbard eventually yielded a penalty, which Hughes kicked to put his side 10-5 to the good.

Hibbard then pushed Minety further clear in the opening exchanges of the second half when he picked up a loose ball at a ruck to run 30m and score beneath the posts. Hughes added the extras.

Hughes extended the lead with a penalty and then scored his second try when a loose ball popped up into his hands at the end of a lovely move.

Shortly afterwards, Hughes was denied another try after a brilliant solo run when it was claimed he had not grounded the ball properly.

Good defence from Pewsey then prevented Tom Claxton from grounding the ball over the line, but from the ensuing scrum, Minety pushed over and Hibbard touched down for his second try and the hosts’ bonus point.

The fifth try came straight from the kick-off, with Mark Glew bursting forward before offloading to Simpson. He evaded the first line of defence before passing to Hibbard, who ran in to complete his hat-trick. Hughes slotted the conversion.

The game became much more open as it entered the last 10 minutes and only a brilliant tackle from Del Murray prevented Pewsey from touching down.

However, the visitors’ enterprise was rewarded in the closing stages as they took their try tally to the day to four to at least have the consolation of a bonus point.

Elsewhere, Sutton Benger claimed a 30-10 victory at home to Calne.