Calne (2XV) Crusaders, sponsored by the Spice of Bengal met Minety (2XV) in a top of the table clash at the Recreation Ground (Calne) on Saturday, with the winner being able to sit proudly at the top of the Dorset & Wilts 3 (North) League.

After drawing 0-0 at Minety a few weeks before, both teams were eager to get the first score on the board to avoid another blank score line.

From the very first whistle the two packs fought it out to try and gain the upper hand but it was the Calne pack that very quickly showed the visitors that they were going to dominate proceedings. The Calne forwards were outstanding and controlled the scrums (often winning against the head) and winning nearly every lineout with Ed Gillams securing Calne ball and winning a majority of Minety Lineout's too. However, as the clock was ticking down in the first half, the home side looked like they would once again become frustrated and unable to score points. Props Paul Wood, Chris Austin and Mark Edwards all made attempts to cross the Minety line, but were unable to make the breakthrough due to dogged defence from the visitors on their own try line.. The half time whistle went with the score at 0-0 but with so much forward dominance Calne were very frustrated not to be in front.

As soon as the second half started Calne upped the gears and it was only a few seconds into the half that Tom Porter chased down a kick from James Morten, the Minety full-back looked like he grounded the ball behind the posts but the referee did not see this and Porter touched down to score the first try. The conversion was missed but at last, everyone knew it would not be another scoreless affair.

Captain Tom Morten lead from the front and made some great runs by spinning out of tackles, the backs were spreading the ball out wide and causing Minety all sorts of problems. With impressive displays from Matt Golden, Elliott Graham, Tom Blomfield, Anthony Jane and Mike Charlwood, it was simply a matter of time before more tries followed.

Man mountain Gareth Pavey entered that game and made an immediate impact by running through the visitors and repelling any attempts to tackle him. In fact it was Pavey, who crashed through and offloaded to Mike Charlwood who touched down for the next score.

With very strong performances from the front row, consisting of Mark Edwards, Paul Wood and Chris Austin, it was an uphill struggle for Minety but to their credit they still battled for the full 80 minutes. However, this was not enough to stop a very hungry Calne team from scoring more tries with Mike Charlwood and Matt Golden both crossing the line to the delight of the home supporters.

Calne (2XV) Crusaders are now proudly sitting on top of the league and Captain Tom Morten was delighted with his team's performance. He said "This is great for the club! We are improving all the time and we actually got our regular front row back which was great! I couldn't decide on ONE man of the match so I gave it to Mike Charlwood and Matt Golden who were outstanding. However, Chris Austin was awesome too and it was fitting that he got nominated by Golden to take the reward (If you can call a Dirty pint a reward!).

Calne Rugby would also like to thanks their 2XV sponsors the Spice of Bengal for their hospitality later that evening as Calne Rugby celebrated being top of the league and fighting for promotion in 2008.