1st XV
Matches
Sat 15 Feb 2020  ·  London 1 North
Chingford
17
7
Eton Manor RFC
1st XV
Tries: J BaberConversions: M SageSent Off: P SheehyYellow Carded: B Cosma, J Baber
14 Man Manor fall to defeat against local rivals Chingford.

14 Man Manor fall to defeat against local rivals Chingford.

Martin Pearl18 Feb 2020 - 10:49
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Manor travelled the short distance to Chingford very much aware that they faced an uphill task if they were to come away with the spoils. Their hosts had recently beaten high flying Brentwood at home as well as some other notable home performances. With Storm Dennis fast closing in and a very heavy pitch it made for slug fest in difficult conditions. Manor also were major contributors to their eventual defeat by having to play 45 minutes of the game with 14 players and 10 minutes with 13, not conducive to winning rugby.

Chingford kicked off the game playing with the wind at their backs and controlled the early exchanges using their hard running forwards to test Manors defence, which held firm. The weather caused a number of handling errors by both sides and when Manor did get possession they had to run from deep as the wind made it almost impossible to put a decent clearance kick in.

Chingford soon had the first opportunity of points when Manor ran the ball out from their 22, then at a breakdown Manor secured their ball and cleared out the opposition, this caused the ref to award a penalty to Chingford and send Billy Cosma to the sin bin for an infringement at the ruck. Chingford opted for a shot at goal which in normal conditions would have been a fairly straightforward attempt, but the swirling wind took the attempt off target.

The game continued in the same vein with Chingford using the elements to their advantage and Manor defending stoutly with no quarter given or asked at the breakdown and the ball rarely going out to the backs.

Despite all of Chingford’s pressure Manor created the first real scoring opportunity when they won a scrum just outside their 22 allowing Ollie Waugh to break off the back, Manors forwards then drove the ball up the middle of the park before Craig Ratford put a kick into space behind Chingford’s defensive line, Manors Mike Sage gave chase and got his fingertips to the ball on Chingford’s 22 but was unable to hold on and with no defenders in front of him he would have had a clear run in.

As the game wore on Chingford continued to have the lions share of territory and possession and the pressure finally told when Chingford won a scrum 10 meters out from Manors line allowing their forwards to have a couple of driving runs before spinning the ball along the line where they managed to cross the try line despite a last ditch tackle by Jamie Millais, the conversion was successful and after 28 minutes Chingford had taken a deserved lead 7 – 0.

Manor now enjoyed some attacking possession after winning a lineout which they drove forward into Chingford’s 22. Here the forwards took it in turns to pick and drive, inching their way forwards. Billy Cosma then drove forwards and looked to have broken through but when stopped he popped the ball to Jimmy Baber, the flanker powered forwards but looked to have been stopped short by a couple of Chingford defenders but he managed to slip through their tackles and just got over the line with defenders hanging on to him. Sage was successful with the conversion and somewhat against the run of play Manor had levelled the scores at 7 all.

Chingford’s next score came as a result of some good driving runs by their forwards which saw play move into Manors half, the ball was then fed back to their fly half who put in an inch perfect kick ahead for his winger to chase and he was first to the bouncing ball and ran in under the posts for what turned out to be a seven point score giving Chingford back the lead 14 – 7 with time almost up.

There was time still though for Manor to fall foul yet again of the refs whistle and from the resulting penalty the Chingford kicker added another 3 points and with little time left to play the half ended with Chingford in the lead.

Manor kicked off the second half and with the weather deteriorating it was their turn to have the benefit of the elements although the pitch was now resembling a quagmire in places.

Manor were retaining possession well and keeping Chingford pinned inside their 22, after a series of drives the ball found its way to Paddy Sheehy who was just outside Chingford’s 22, as he caught the ball and looked to go forward he was felled by a head high tackle from Chingford’s openside who had launched himself at Sheehy with a swinging arm. A scuffle took place and when the ref finally got control of things he showed Sheehy a red card for retaliation but quite incredibly didn’t punish the Chingford player for what was obviously a dangerous and reckless tackle, all the ref did was award Chingford a penalty for the retaliation.

Manor now had to play the remaining 35 minutes down to 14 men, nevertheless Manor had the majority of possession and play was mainly contained in and around Chingford’s 22.

Manor soon created their best scoring opportunity when after a series of runs by the forwards the ball was shipped along the line, Jack Sullivan took the ball into contact and passed out to winger Elliott Brown, for the first time in the match Brown had the opportunity to stretch his legs, he rounded his opposite number and set off close to touch taking play 20 meters upfield and into Chingford’s 22, when defenders converged on him he threw a pass infield to the unmarked Aaron Lowe but the pass went astray and Lowe could only knock the ball on with an open try line in front of him.

From the scrum Manor gave away a penalty which allowed Chingford to kick for a lineout on the halfway line. Manor won the throw in which allowed Ratford to put in a towering up and under, Chingford failed to deal with it and gave away a penalty. Sage took a kick at goal from 30 meters out which despite the swirling wind only just missed it’s target.

Manor continued to keep the pressure up on Chingford and after another good kick by Ratford which saw the ball go into Chingford’s dead ball area the chasing Lowe was just beaten to the touchdown by a Chingford defender.

Manor weren’t having it all their own way though and Chingford now enjoyed a period of possession inside Manors half, but some solid defending by Manor made sure that the hosts didn’t add to their score.

Manor again worked their way back into Chingford’s 22 where they built up multiple phases of possession with pick and drives working their way forward but they were met with a ferocious defensive display by Chingford who threw their bodies on the line, sometime illegally, to stop Manor crossing their line, they were warned a number of times about their infringements but the ref chose not to penalise them, but Chingford must be applauded for their herculean effort in defence.

Chingford again worked their way out of defence and aided by a couple of miss tackles found themselves close to Manors 22 but a bone shuddering tackle by Waugh on the big Chingford ball carrier dislodged the ball and eventually lead to a Manor penalty.

As the game wore on Manor thought they had scored again after another good break by Brown followed by a kick ahead saw Chingford fumble the ball meters from their line, Manors Carley Buisson was first to react, gathered the ball and dived over in the corner only for the ref to disallow the try and bring play back for the Chingford knock on.

Manor were soon down to 13 men when Baber was sinned binned for backchat to the ref, but still Manor continued searching for the score that would get them back into the game, but excellent defence from Chingford made sure that Manor didn’t score again and the second half ended without a score being made with the ref blowing the final whistle giving Chingford a 17 – 7 victory.

Chingford’s victory was built around an excellent defensive display against a Manor side playing with 14 players for most of the second half, although there was a strong argument that both sides should have been reduced in numbers. Nevertheless Chingford deserved their victory.
After the match Manors DOR Mark Farrell said ‘A tough day at the office today, but even in a loss there are always some positives. For lengthy periods of the game our ball retention was very good, we hit double figures on phases more than a few times, It was good to see we can look after the pill, although ultimately our execution was not at the level required. We still manage to make things hard for ourselves, the sanctions mounted up, it’s always very difficult to win without the full quota of players on the field.
Full credit to Chingford who defended resolutely and managed the conditions better than us, they fully deserved their win today.’

Match details

Match date

Sat 15 Feb 2020

Kickoff

13:30

Meet time

11:45

Competition

London 1 North

League position

7
Eton Manor
11
Chingford
Team overview
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