FOR the first time in living memory last weekend, Minety won their own annual invitational seven-a-side tournament, coming from behind to beat Sutton Benger 27-24 in a nervy final.

Nine teams took part in this year’s tournament, including the hosts’ first, second and academy (under 18).

Dursley, Sutton Benger and Wootton Bassett rugby clubs, plus London-based sevens specialists Flying Piggies and local teams One Direction and Daffodils made up the rest of the competition.

Minety coasted through the group stages with victories over Daffodils (43-7), Minety Academy (31-5) and Flying Piggies (22-15) before seeing off Dursley 25-15 in the semi-final.

Benger, who had crushed Dreamers (41-0), Wootton Bassett (26-7) and One Direction (26-12), then defeated Flying Piggies 27-12 in their semi to book a place in the grand finale against their hosts.

Looking fresh despite the blazing sunshine and the string of games which they had already played, Sutton Benger started briskly.

The game had been going less then a minute when they got their hands on the ball inside their own 22 and promptly shipped it left, creating an overlap and capitalising with a touch down in the corner, and Benger doubled their lead in similar fashion moments later.Keeping their composure, Minety got into the game with a break from Ryan Dowling following a tap penalty. Thundering down the left touchline, he shrugged off tacklers and outpaced pursuers to land a try.

With the benefit of the slope in the second half, Sutton Benger soon added to their tally, grabbing a runaway try down the left touch line.

But a break by Max Sparrow put Josh Jenson away for a try to the hosts, and when Dowling snatched an interception on halfway, he lost no time in sprinting in for another try to close the gap.

Quick hands and neat passing saw Benger outflank Minety on the right and pull away with another try, but a decisive break by Robin Greenway put Dowling through for his third try and once more closed the gap.

With the clock running down and finding themselves still behind, Minety threw caution to the wind and clinched the game with a last second try by Jenson.