Manor welcomed Letchworth to the New Wilderness this week knowing that they had to be at their very best to get anything from the fixture. Even at this stage of the season it looks like the title belongs to Bury St Edmunds leaving the second place play-off position up for grabs. Letchworth looked best placed of the leading teams to fill this spot come the end of the season, but Manor had other plans.

With Letchworth kicking off the first few minutes of the game took a familiar path of two quality sides testing each other out, looking for any signs of weakness, as you would expect none were found by either side, this was going to be a very close game. Manor applied the early pressure and good kicking from Nick Horton and Max Murray kept Letchworth pinned firmly inside their half. The pressure was relieved when a kick was a little too strong going dead behind the try line giving Letchworth the first scrum of the day on the halfway line. Despite the Letchworth front row being much bigger, Manor competed well, but Manor would not be able to show their usual dominance over their opponents at scrum time and faced a mighty battle at each scrum. With the ball secured Letchworth set off their extremely dangerous backline attacking Manor, but Manor proved more that capable in their defensive duties, stopping wave after wave of attacks, eventually forcing Letchworth to kick. This went straight to Huw Levis who along with Reece Reed, playing his first game after 6 weeks off through injury, took play to just inside Letchworth’s half. Here Letchworth gave away a penalty giving Ben Thomas his first shot at goal from a meter inside Letchworth’s half. The kick fell short allowing Letchworth to run the ball back at Manor. Again after getting nowhere Letchworth kicked to Levis who returned the ball with interest for a lineout just outside Letchworth’s 22.

The game settled in and around the middle of the park until Manor began to build the phases of play where both forwards and backs drove the ball up field, sucking in Letchworth players then releasing the ball to again drive on. Play continued up field as Manor made good use of the off load to take the ball into Letchworth’s 22. Here the visitors gave away another penalty, this time 15 meters out which was successfully converted by Thomas to give Manor a 3-0 lead after 11 minutes of play.
From the kick off Manor continued to take the game to Letchworth where Manors forwards had the upper hand, seemingly quicker to the ball so restricting any good ball going to Letchworth’s backs. It wasn’t long before Manor had another opportunity to increase their lead with a penalty from 30 meters, but on this occasion the kick from Thomas just sailed wide. From the 22 Letchworth set about attacking Manor and made good ground before Manor managed to knock the ball into touch for a Letchworth lineout 10 meters inside the visitors half. Good pressure on the Letchworth line out gave Manor a scrum. From here Garth Tucker picked up from the base and as usual made good yardage before the rest of his supporting forwards drove the ball into Letchworth’s 22 and towards their line with a series of pick and goes, only to be stopped just short of the line. From the subsequent scrum Tucker again picked up and was an unstoppable force as he powered over the line for Manor’s first try of the game. With the extra 2 points added by Thomas Manor were deservedly in the lead 10-0 after 20 minutes of play.

From the kick off Manor made the mistake of kicking the ball to Letchworth’s fullback who set off a sweeping attack that took play to within 10 meters of Manors line. It was here that Manors superior close quarter work paid dividends when Letchworth were penalised for holding on allowing Manor to clear the danger. Manor gradually began to work their way up field but were met by solid defending from the visitors. From quick ruck ball Murray put in a beautifully weighted cross field kick to Reed who took the ball without having to break stride, unfortunately he was unable to hold on to the ball and knocked on otherwise he looked odds on to score.

Letchworth now began to get back into the game, Manor were still bossing the breakdowns but Letchworth, when given the opportunity, were attacking with real pace and power. Thomas and Callum McKie kept the midfield tight with big hitting tackles but Manor began to leak penalties finally giving one away within kicking distance. The Letchworth kicker slipped as he struck the ball so their first scoring opportunity after 30 minutes of play had gone begging. Even so Letchworth continued to press Manor and the pressure was only relieved by a massive clearance kick from Thomas taking play from inside Manors 22 to inside Letchworth’s 22. Manors chase was good enabling them to stop the Letchworth counter attack in its tracks winning a scrum for a knock on just outside Letchworth’s 22. Again Tucker drove off the back of the scrum causing Letchworth all sorts of problems and winning a penalty. Unfortunately Thomas was off target with the shot at goal, keeping Letchworth very much in the game.

With time running out Letchworth upped their work rate with their inside centre making good ground before feeding his full back who won a penalty just outside Manors 22. This time the kicker made no mistake with the kick and after 35 minutes the score was 10-3 to Manor. With the half coming to an end Manor still had the upper hand but couldn’t increase their lead so went in at half time 10-3 up.

With Manor kicking off the second half, they competed well and turned the ball over, quick ball was fed to Thomas who once again ran a superb line to make 30 meters before feeding his forwards to continue the attack. The ball was eventually kicked in behind Letchworth’s defensive line only to find it’s way into the hands of their classy fullback. He put in a long kick down field after spotting that Manor had no cover at the back. He followed up his kick only to be beaten to it by the covering Reed. With a moment of hesitation Reed went to kick the ball clear only to see it charged down by Letchworth’s fullback. He then raced forward to collect his own charge down and stroll in under the posts, only to knock the ball on. Manor had escaped a certain 7 point try against them, but the danger still wasn’t over. Manor made a mess of clearing the ball allowing Letchworth to win turn over ball and lay siege to Manors line. A series of penalties given away by the home side eventually saw a yellow card given to Manor’s captain Tryson Goodchild. With Manor having a man short in the pack Letchworth opted for a scrum and from 8 meters out and with good control at the back of the scrum the Letchworth No 8 scored from a pushover. The conversion was missed but Manor now only led 10-8 and had to play the next 10 minutes with a man down.

Straight from the kick off Manor turned the ball over and a finely weighted box kick by Horton put the ball in behind Letchworth which was chased by Tucker, he was beaten to the ball by Letchworth’s winger but as he ran behind his own try line he slipped and touched the ball down. Manor now had a 5 meter scrum to attack from. It was now Manors turn to set up wave after wave of attacks on Letchworth’s line. Manor were patient, they had to be against a well organised side, eventually after passing the ball out of the tackle a number of times the ball found it’s way to Alfie Hutcherson near to the touchline, he used his pace to squeeze in at the corner for a score, only to be denied by the referee who deemed that the last pass had been forward.

Manor continued to pressurise Letchworth with the forwards making good ground up the middle before feeding Thomas who again made the hard yards then setting up a ruck, Manor forwards were there in numbers resulting in quick ball to Horton who fed Murray as he set off along the backline, dummying with McKie before a miss pass with Levis saw the ball find it’s way to Chris Jones who had the pace to get over in the corner for Manors second try after 17 minutes of the second half. The touchline conversion was slotted by Thomas and Manor had extended their lead to 17-8 despite being down a man.

Letchworth came straight back at Manor and showed why they occupied second place in the league, their forwards were getting into the game more and winning an increasing amount of ball for their quality backline to use. Fortunately Manor were up to the task and defended stoutly eventually winning a penalty after good work from young Ollie Waugh at the breakdown. Manor now set up an attack themselves breaking out from their half after good work firstly from Levis, then by Murray who found Reed out on his wing. He set off on a 30 meter run before chipping ahead and although beaten to the ball he won a 5 meter attacking lineout. Ian Edwards won clean ball and although the maul was brought down, Manor set up quick ball for Horton to feed his back line. Murray took the ball and delayed his pass to perfection before feeding the supporting Thomas who again picked an exquisite line to beat his would be tackler and go in under the posts for Manors third try. With the try converted by Thomas Manor had now increased the lead to 24-8, could they get the try bonus point with 15 minutes of the match remaining.
Letchworth, as you would expect, still hadn’t given up on the game and attacked Manor with a renewed urgency attacking at pace testing Manors defence at every opportunity. Manor held firm until a piece of individual skill from their winger and player coach Jimmy Tirrell broke through. From a lineout lost by Manor, Letchworth set off on a counter attack moving the ball through a number of hands before finding its way to Tirrell who showed why he has been part of the professional ranks and an England 7’s player, when from distance he danced his way past would be tacklers then showed a turn of pace unmatched by any other player to run in under the posts for a try, which he quickly converted himself to bring the scores to 24-17, with still enough time to score more points.

As it was it was Manor who scored the decisive points, Letchworth continued to press the Manor defence, but this time it held firm eventually winning a penalty just outside Manors 22. With little or no angle Horton put in a raking kick to touch taking play to inside Letchworth’s 22 for a Manor lineout. With a set lineout move the ball found its way to Waugh who made ground before setting up a ruck. Quick recycled ball found Tucker 15 meters out, but on the charge. He bulldozed his way towards the line and despite the efforts of a number of Letchworth players he crossed the line for Manors try scoring bonus point score. With Thomas again adding the difficult extra 2 points Manor were clear again at 31-15.

Still Letchworth pressed, hoping to be able to score twice themselves and get a losing bonus point. They battered Manors line causing the home side to give away a number of penalties which eventually lead to Jones being yellow carded for numerous team offences. Letchworth took advantage of the extra man when after a number of forward drives they spun the ball out wide for their centre to go over in the corner. With the conversion missed the referee blew for full time 31-20 to Manor.

This was a great win for Manor but they had to put in their best performance of the season to beat a very talented Letchworth team who asked questions of Manor throughout the whole match, questions which Manor were able to answer. Manor have now beaten two of the top three sides in the league and rightly sit in second place in the division. Next week they travel to bottom placed Ruislip, a difficult place to win despite what the league placings may say. Just ask Colchester, who were beaten there a few weeks ago. Manor can’t be complacent, but if they play well they can come away with the points.