Manor travelled to Ruislip for their first game of 2017 knowing that despite their lowly league position the home side would not be an easy team to beat. They were the team that three season ago beat Manor near the end of the season preventing Manor winning the league title. Unfortunately history has a habit of repeating itself.

Manor kicked off the match playing up the slope, the hosts knew how to play their pitch and had the better of possession and territory in the opening 10 minutes, keeping Manor pinned inside their own half. Ruislip had two chances to open the scoring but were held up over the line on one occasion and knocked the ball on when it looked easier to score, but against the run of play it was Manor who opened the scoring.

Ruislip were pressing inside Manors 22 and won a lineout, with the ball played quickly from the throw in Ruislip passed the ball along their backline and out towards their left wing, Max Murray spotted his opportunity and intercepted the ball then had the pace to run the length of the field to score under the posts, with Nick Sheppard adding the easy extra points Manor led against the run of play 0 - 7 after 10 minutes.

Ruislip continued to boss the territory using the slope to their advantage, but Manor were defending well and a big hit by Jack Sullivan won Manor a scrum. With the ball secured Callum McKie put in a long kick into Ruislip’s 22 which went into touch giving Manor some rest bite from Ruislip’s attacks. Having to attack from deep Ruislip made good ground with a series of driving runs that took play to the halfway where a thumping tackle by Chris Smith halted the attack, unfortunately in the ruck that followed Manors captain Tryson Goodchild got injured to be replaced by Jon Ewers who had to play out of position at hooker.

Ruislip continued to keep Manor pinned inside their half, but despite some good interplay between their forwards and backs, combined with some powerful driving runs, Manors defence held and eventually Murray and Smith combined in a tackle and won a penalty allowing Nick Horton to kick to the halfway line. Here with Barney Newbury taking on the throwing in duties the ball was won by Sullivan and Manor set up a driving maul taking play into Ruislip’s half before James Osborn broke off the rear of the maul making another 10 meters before setting the ball up again. Here Freddie Newbury chipped the ball ahead landing just outside Ruislip’s 22 and although Ruislip got to the ball first the attempted clearance kick went straight into touch giving Manor an attacking scrum.

With Manor winning the throw in through Rory Moore, the ball was shipped along the backline to Sheppard who cut back inside before being brought down 10 meters short of the line. With the ball being quickly recycled first Barney Newbury then Sullivan drove the ball forward, when it was set up a second time Barney again drove forward and as he was stopped 5 meters short of the line he passed the ball out of the tackle. As he passed the ball it hit the back of a Ruislip player and went into the hands of Sheppard who went in at the corner for Manors second try. Although he was unable to convert his own score after 26 minutes Manor has increased their lead to 0 – 12.

As the half wore on Ruislip continued to press and Manor were giving away too many penalties at the breakdown, this allowed Ruislip to kick for touch inside Manors 22. With the ball secured Ruislip began attacking Manors line with big ball carriers pounding away at Manors defence. Eventually their hard work paid off as the ball found its way to their No 8 who ran a good line coming from deep to go over the try line close to the posts. With a successful conversion the score moved to 7 – 12 after 34 minutes.
From the restart Manor controlled the ball and worked their way slowly up field, the ball was then fed along the line to Horton who spotted space out on the wing and chipped the ball ahead for Murray to chase, he won the race to the bouncing ball then set off along the touchline, as the defenders closed in he chipped the ball ahead into Ruislip’s 22, as he did he was taken out into touch injuring his leg in the process. Although he tried to play on he soon had to give way to Michael Eghan who was returning to the side after a long layoff through injury.

Manor were still being pressurised by their hosts and it wasn’t long before Ruislip worked the ball up through the middle before shipping the ball quickly out to their right winger who beat the coving defence to go over the line and behind the posts for a seven point score. With Ruislip now taking the lead 14 – 12 the half was deep into stoppage time.

There was still time though for Ruislip to score again when they pounced on a Manor mistake and won a penalty allowing them to kick for a lineout deep inside Manors 22. Here they set up a driving maul and with the backs joining in, the maul moved towards the try line, Manor were then penalised for collapsing the maul with the ref awarding a penalty try and sending Osborn to the sin bin. With the simple conversion successful the ref blew his whistle bringing the half to a close with Ruislip holding a deserved lead 21 – 12.

Ruislip kicked off the second half and soon created the first scoring opportunity when, with the ref playing advantage for a high tackle, they moved the ball swiftly along their backline creating space out wide but the final pass was dropped with the try line beckoning so the ref brought play back for an easy penalty in front of the post allowing Ruislip to increase their lead to 24 – 12 with three minutes of the second half played.

Manor soon reduced the deficit when from the kick off Ruislip tried to run the ball back but were penalised for crossing allowing Manor to kick for an attacking lineout. With Moore securing the throw, the ball was fed along the backline where McKie linked with his centres who ran dummy lines allowing Eghan to come in off his wing and crash through three attempted tackles before avoiding a last ditched attempt to tackle him before going over the line for what turned out to be a seven point score reducing the deficit to 24 – 19 after 8 minutes.

Manor continued to hold the upper hand and were now back to full strength with Osborn back on the pitch, but Ruislip’s defence was working well and managed to keep Manor out, but they were giving away a number of penalties which eventually tested the refs patience until he showed a yellow card to Ruislip’s prop and in the process giving Sheppard a shot at goal from a penalty which he was successful with from 30 meters out, with 20 minutes gone the score was now 24 – 22, but Manor were further hampered with the loss to injury of centre George Harman meaning that No 8 Garth Tucker had to go into the backline.

Things got worse for Manor when, after a period of attacking play just outside Ruislip’s 22 McKie spotted space in behind Ruislip’s defensive line and chipped the ball over the top causing it to bounce towards the line, Ruislip got to the ball first although they did take the ball back into the dead ball area to create some room to get a clearance kick away, as the player made the kick he was taken out by Osborn, the ref deemed the challenge late and showed Osborn his second yellow card sending him from the pitch for the rest of the match.

Manor, although a man short still attacked down the slope but could not break through Ruislip’s resolute defence and they were not helped by some sloppy handling. Ruislip themselves continued to attack whenever they could and in fact could have scored if they had not again dropped the ball close to the line. But Ruislip were defensively sound and made Manor work hard to gain any sort of territory.
With time almost up Manor drove the ball into Ruislip’s half and were awarded a penalty, there was no option but to take a difficult shot at goal. With the mark close to the touchline and 40 meters out Sheppard struck the ball well only to see his attempt sail just wide of the post, as the ball went dead the ref blew for full time.

Ruislip had deserved their victory and defended well to stop Manor winning the game. History had repeated itself as yet again, Manor had not performed well at a ground that is fast becoming a bogey ground for them.

Next week Manor play Old Fullerians, a team that they beat away very comfortably, but they know that things will be nowhere as easy next week and they have to put the disappointment of this weeks performance behind them and make sure that they raise their game to a level that ensure victory.