Brilliant Supermarine hammer Avonvale (From Swindon Advertiser)

Brilliant Supermarine hammer Avonvale

7:30am Wednesday 7th December 2011 in Rugby By Andy Warren

EVERYTHING clicked for impressive Supermarine as they ran in 12 tries to beat Avonvale 79-5 and secure their third big home win of the season.

The victory cements Marine’s position as the top first team in Dorset & Wilts 1 North, and following huge wins over Sutton Benger and Minety earlier in the season, their South Marston ground is fast becoming a fortress.

Joint acting head coach Sean Millwaters was pleased with his side’s performance in all departments, but despite scoring try after try, was more impressed with Marine’s defending.

“This is the third time this season we have really turned it on, and all three of those have been against rival first teams, so we are very pleased,” he said.

“Avonvale are normally a hard team to play, but I think they were depleted and one of their wingers was about 50, but we still had to play the rugby and score the points.

“We defended really well, especially when they were camped on our line for seven phases, but we did well to clear.

“We switched off for 10 minutes and let them score a soft try, but I think that can happen to any team, even in the Premiership, so I think I am being hyper critical.”

Winger Alan Milton ran in four tries to lead the rout, with Stuart Dawson, Jeff Barrett and Matt Dickens grabbing two, and Pete Mabbott and Robin Smith scoring one each.

The boot of Dawson added 19 points to go with his two tries, and the visitors’ solitary score came towards the end of the first half after a catch and drive following a good lineout put them in.

Elsewhere in Dorset & Wilts 1 North, Minety suffered a 15-5 home defeat to Bradford on Avon, which saw their opponents move level on points with them in fourth place.

Lock Matt Hooper gave Minety the lead, but that was as good as it got, before a wheeled scrum gave a Bradford on Avon flanker the chance to dive over and deny the home side a losing bonus point.

Fairford are still without a win this season, after a 21-10 home defeat to Calne.

In Dorset & Wilts 2 North, Cricklade put in an impressive display to beat Melksham 2nds 71-19.

Dan Bown, Jamie Dunkley and coach Paul Howse all scored second half tries to make sure of the win.

Wootton Bassett maintained their challenge at the top of the Southern Counties North with a 39-29 victory at home to lowly Tadley.

Cirencester fell 14-23 to North Bristol in National 3 South West, and Swindon College Old Boys lost 36-8 to Thatcham in the Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier.

• NEIL Loader refused to hide behind Swindon’s injury crisis despite suffering a 22-0 home defeat to Witney.

The coach was without 11 first choice players, including four front rowers and leading fly-half Adam Westall, and had to rely on some of the club’s younger players as they looked to consolidate their place at the top of the South West 1 East table.

It started badly though as the visitors ran in 19 points inside the first 25 minutes, but Loader was pleased with how his young side responded.

“It took us a while to get going because there were some new combinations all over the pitch, but after an early wobble we got it together and only conceded three more points,” he said.

“Obviously we don’t want to lose like that at home, but 22-0 is not a hammering. The young guys played fantastically well but we lacked a little experience at times.

“We have always been proud of the strength in depth we have here, and that showed itself today.”

The club’s under 14s did manage a win, though, as four tries from Chris Brydon made sure of a 50-20 win over Minety in a friendly on Sunday. Christian Wood, Jack Vertrannes, Josh Scotford and Dan Mulligan all added scores as Swindon made their long spells of possession count.

The under 13s didn’t fare so well, as they lost out 47-17 to Devizes.

Despite scoring three well-worked tries through Maciek Stepien, Joshua Jones and Stanley Cubbage, they could not prevent a strong Devizes side from taking victory.