This week saw Manor travel the short distance to local rivals Barking keen to extend their unbeaten run. Their opponents have been struggling of late but the form book often goes out of the window in derby games.

With fine rain falling Barking kicking off the game, Manor soon worked their way into the match by winning the first penalty of the game which they kicked for a lineout just outside Barking’s 22. With the throw in secured by Matt Oaks Manor set up a driving maul taking play into the 22, but Barking defended well and held the ball up winning a defensive scrum. Here Manor drove the Barking pack back turning the ball over, this enabled Manors backs to attack the home sides line for the first time, but as the attack progressed a knock on halted Manors efforts. Barking had another scrum and yet again Manor stole the ball and won a penalty. Opting for another scrum Garth Tucker drove off the back before setting up the charging Andrew Connors who although stopped just short of the line did manage to ground the ball but the ref deemed that he had made a double movement and disallowed the score allowing Barking to clear the danger from a penalty.

Barking showed that they were an attacking force when they worked their way into Manors half with a series of powerful drives by their forwards then winning a penalty which they kicked into Manors 22 for a lineout. With a substantial height advantage over Manor, Barking’s lineout was going to be a strength but when the throw in was not straight it handed the advantage back to Manor in the form of a scrum. From here Tucker again drove off the back proving difficult to bring down as he made 25 meters before Max Murray combined well with Connors as Manor moved swiftly up field. Here from a ruck on Barking’s 10 meter line Nick Sheppard made a break then fed Luigi Martelletti out on the wing, the flying Italian cut inside then brushed aside a couple of attempted tackles taking play inside Barking’s 22, when he was eventually tackled he offloaded to the supporting Connors who dived in at the corner for Manors first score. With Nick Sheppard just missing the difficult conversion Manor led 5 – 0 after 11 minutes.

Manor continued to be the dominate side but in their efforts to add to the scoreboard they tried to force the last pass leading to a few knock on’s that halted promising attacks. But Manor continued to press and their next score came after good work from James Osborn who broke through a ruck on Barking’s 10 meter line and proved difficult to bring down as he broke through a couple of tackles before setting the ball up, the breakdown was fiercely contested but Manor recycled the ball allowing Connors to break through Barking’s defence before feeding the supporting Murray, he then had the pace to get to the line and score Manors second try. With Sheppard successful with the conversion after 22 minutes Manor had increased their lead to 12 – 0.

Barking again came back at Manor and soon scored a try of their own when a good break by their scrum half saw him chip the ball in behind Manors defensive line and although the ball was kicked clear Barking drove the ball back towards Manors line and although the initial attack was thwarted, Barking continued to pound Manors line eventually finding a gap and crashing over for a well constructed try. With the conversion missed after 22 minutes Barking were back in the game at 12 – 5.

Manor soon regained the initiative when after some good work in taking the ball forward by Tryson Goodchild and Jack Sullivan, Manor shipped the ball along the line where this time Connors linked up with Chris Smith who came crashing in off of his wing causing Barking all sorts of problems, this allowed Connors to take on the attack before feeding Martelletti who again beat his man before coming in off his wing and outsprinting the covering defence to go under the posts for a 7 point score. Manor had now increased their lead to 19 – 5 after 30 minutes.

Again Barking responded with a period of pressure of their own stemming from a good break by their left winger who made 25 meters before being brought down 10 meters short of Manors line winning a penalty in the process. Turning down a shot at goal they kicked for an attacking lineout which they won and drove forward causing Manor to give away another penalty. This scenario happened twice more before on the third occasion Manor got their defence against the driving maul spot on when they put on a counter drive holding the ball up and winning a defensive scrum. From here Sheppard and Murray combined to take play to Manors 10 meter line where Manor won a ruck allowing Fred Newbury to put in a well placed kick that went out of play inside Barking’s 22.

Barking threw the ball in but did not deal with it properly as it was knocked backwards, Rory Moore was quickest to react coming through the lineout he grabbed the bouncing ball, stepped past a Barking defender then scampered over the line from 15 meters out. The difficult conversion was missed but with just enough time for the restart before the ref blew for half time, Manor now held a comfortable 24 – 5 lead.

With the weather worsening Manor kicked off the second half and soon harried Barking into making mistakes which allowed Manor to move into Barking’s 22 winning a scrum. Here with the ball secured Nick Horton set off along his backline and with a set move confusing Barking’s defence Smith came in off his wing at pace slicing through a large gap and going over the line untouched. The simple conversion was successful and after just 5 minutes of the second half Manor increased their lead to 31 – 5.

Manor continued to cause Barking problems with Murray and Connors again combining well to take play close to the home sides 22 before winning a penalty. Manor kicked for a lineout but the thrown in was poached by Barking allowing them to clear the danger.
Barking were still showing a fighting spirit as they attacked inside Manors half winning a number of penalties which they chose to kick to touch and utilise their main attacking weapon, their driving lineout. But Manor were now defending this well and held the drive winning a scrum allowing them to clear the danger.

Although Barking attacked when they could, it was Manors attack that looked the more dangerous of the two sides as they attacked at pace and varied their running lines to make life difficult for their hosts. Smith again joined in from his wing carving through Barking’s defence and only a brave tackle stopped him from scoring again.

The game had now become a scrappy affair as the wet weather began to affect both sides attempts to play attacking rugby. Barking worked an overlap to put their winger away down the touchline but Horton covered well and took him out of play 8 meters from Manors line.

As the game drew to its conclusion play became bogged down in the middle of the park with Barking still trying to add to their solitary score. As they tried the ball went to ground where Sheppard was quickest to react managing to scoop the ball up and sprint the 35 meters towards Barking’s line, having just enough pace to get close to the line and despite being tackled just short, he slid on the wet grass over the line to score the final points of the day as the ref blew for full time immediately after the unsuccessful conversion attempt. Manor had run out comfortable winners 36 – 5.

As expected from a local derby, Barking gave their best but on the day it was not enough to beat Manor who again did what was required and took 5 valuable points from the encounter. Next week Manor have another local derby when they welcome Chingford to the New Wilderness, a side that currently sit second in the table and have only been beaten once this season. When Manor played them in September they put in a very poor performance, played nearly half the match with 14 men and on the day were deservedly beaten by the better side. All the players are determined that next week they will give a better account of themselves and try to extend their winning run into next year.