Romford must have left the New Wilderness after the game, sick of the sight of Eton Manor and in particular sick of Callum McKie. For the second time this season Romford outplayed and out scored Manor for the first 60 minutes of the game, only to drop their intensity and let Manor back into the game and then see that man McKie snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with a last ditch drop goal.

Manor kicked off into a breeze and immediately Romford took the attack to Manor with their strong running game to the fore. Romford bossed the first exchanges, breaking through unusually weak Manor tackling, offloading out of the tackle, and keeping Manor pressed in their own half. Romford forwards were having the better of the Manor 8, winning the close contact exchanges and being more hungry in the loose. The only area that Manor did have a slight advantage was in the set scrums where during the game they won a couple of strikes against the head. Romford were let down by some poor handling, forward passes and indifferent throwing in at the lineout, otherwise they may have been way ahead on the score sheet by half time.

Manor for their part were not helped in their cause by early injuries to fullback Huw Levis and Tryson Goodchild, both who had to leave the field early. Saying that, their replacements Max Murray and Dave Dennis fill the gaps admirably. Manor took until the 8th minute before setting up their first meaningful attack. From a scrum just inside their half, scrumhalf Nick Horton spotted a gap and sprinted off past would be tacklers making 30 meters into Romford’s 22 but as he tried to offload in the tackle the ball was knocked forward allowing Romford to clear their lines. The ball was cleared only as far as Michael Eghan who made good ground before a series of inter passing with Murray took the ball towards Romford’s 22 before a knock on brought the attack to a shuddering halt. From the scrimmage, Manor took the ball against the head allowing Garth Tucker to pick up and make the hard yards, this time Manor managed to get quick ball and release their backline, with the ball finding Ben Thomas, he made inroads into Romfords 22 before winning a penalty as the visitors were penalised for hands in a ruck. Thomas took the difficulty penalty himself and put Manor into a 3-0 lead after 15 minutes, somewhat against the run of play.

Romford immediately came back at Manor turning the ball over then over crashing through poor tackling into Manors 22. Manor were only saved from a possible try when Romford passed the ball forward allowing Manor to clear their lines from the subsequent scrum. Romford were still full of strong running and kicked intelligently using the wind to keep Manor pinned in their own half. Increasingly Manor were falling fowl of the referee and giving away too many penalties. It would be fair to say that the referee was not having one of her better days and whilst refereeing the match fairly, she missed to many basic things on both sides, something that you should not expect at this level. Romford were the next to score as they battered the Manor defences, this time Manor held firm until the referee again penalised Manor giving Romford’s kicker an easy three points. After 25 minutes Romford were deservedly level at 3 all.

Manor almost scored directly from the kick off when a high hanging ball was chased by Eghan who rose higher than anyone else and grabbed the ball with one hand, unfortunately he was unable to hold on to the ball otherwise he would surely have had the pace to win a footrace to the line. From the resulting scrum, Manor again turned the ball over setting off Manors backline but again the ball was lost forward giving it back to Romford. From the set scrum Romford worked their way up field with a series of powerful runs until they won a penalty when Manor didn’t release the player in the tackle. A kick into Manors 22 gave Romford an attacking lineout. This time with the throw in straight, they drove towards the line, offloading in the tackle and moving the ball back down the line where it eventually found their prop who scored from 5 meters out despite a last ditch tackle. The conversion was missed but no one could argue with the score line, 8-3 to Romford after 35 minutes of the first half.

From the restart Romford again harried Manor, forcing them to kick long. This time the chase by Horton and Thomas was good forcing the Romford fullback to put his scrumhalf under pressure with a poor pass. He was caught and penalised for holding on, giving Thomas an opportunity to close the gap. The kick drifted wide in the breeze and the last scoring opportunity of the half had gone, Romford deservedly lead 8-3 and Manor had it all to do.

Romford kicked off the second half immediately putting Manor under pressure, turning the ball over and making ground towards Manors 22. They set up quick ball, out to their speedy winger who looked to inside before changing direction and stepping outside the covering Eghan and raced off towards the try line. He must have thought that he was in at the corner, but hadn’t account for Eghan to turn sharply and put on the after burners and put in a try saving tackle 5 meters from Manors line, and knocking the Romford player into touch. Manor cleared their lines but this was only a temporary rest bite from Romford’s attacking game. Eventually their hard work paid off when Manor were again penalised at a ruck inside their 22, this time the referee had lost patience and issued a yellow card to David Hanna. Instead of taking the 3 points on offer Romford decided to try and take advantage of their extra man and went for a lineout, a decision they would possibly rue come the end of the game. They won their lineout and tried to drive towards the line, this time Manors defence was up to the task and as a Romford player peeled off with the ball he was taken to ground by McKie who got over the ball and won a penalty as Romford failed to release in the tackle.
This seemed to wake Manor up as they now began to get back into the game. From the penalty they kicked to touch and won quick ball allowing Alex Hunter to make good ground through the centre, again the forwards recycled the ball and it was passed out to Chris Jones on the wing who got a rare opportunity to speed along the touchline into Romford’s 22, only to be brought down 10 meters short of the line, Manor were unable to recycle the ball allowing Romford to clear the danger.

From halfway Romford were met by solid Manor tackling so kicked ahead, Manor were slow to react and a footrace ensued, Romford again kicked the ball forward along the ground leaving just the covering Horton and two Romford players to sprint after the ball. A Romford player went to pick the ball up just short of the line, he then dived over the line and touched down only for the referee to deem that, from some distance back she had noticed a knock on. Manor had been reprieved and cleared their lines from the scrum. 60 minutes of the game had now passed. Romford had been in the ascendency for most of the match but had failed to extend their lead. Manor were now increasingly getting into the match where their superior fitness appeared to be showing.

From a Romford lineout on the halfway line Manor contested and won the ball allowing McKie to put in a perfectly weighted kick into Romford’s 22 for a defending lineout. The visitors won the ball and began to run out of defence but good tackling from Manor stopped Romford but as the ball was buried a scrum was awarded to Romford. Manor got a drive on in the scrum, so much so that the Romford front row popped up and were rightly penalized giving Thomas another shot at goal. Unfortunately for Manor the kick went wide and after 30 minutes of the second half Manor still trailed 8-3. Romford took the 22 drop out and kicked it long, only for it to find the hands of Eghan out on the wing. He set off in field evading would be tacklers and handing off another couple as he made his way towards the Romford 22. Eventually he was stopped but not before he was able to offload to the supporting Riaan Shields. As Shields took the ball forward he passed to Thomas who cut a superb line, wrong footing the Romford fullback and racing over the line for a vital try. Taking the difficult conversion from out wide, Thomas again missed but Manor had drawn level and looked to be sharing the points as there was only a few minutes left to play. Romford looked dejected, you could tell by their body language that they had nothing left to give.

Manor now put the pressure on Romford forcing them into a number of errors and gradually pushing them back so that they had to defend in their 22. Thomas had the opportunity to win the game for Manor when Romford gave away another kickable penalty, but Thomas had not brought his kicking boots with him and he missed the difficult attempt. Romford in their eagerness to win the game decided to take a quick 22 dropout and knocked the ball on giving the advantage straight back to Manor. From the scrum Tucker drove off the back then fed John Robinson who took the ball on. With the ball grounded Manor set up quick ball for Jones, in off his wing to make another couple of yards. Now as the cliché goes, ‘Lightning never strikes twice’, but where Romford and Callum McKie are involved, it does. Jones had gone to ground and the forwards had piled in to give Horton clean quick ball, with McKie back in the pocket the ball was spun back to him perfectly to drop kick the ball cleanly through the posts. Callum had done exactly the same this game as he had done in the first meeting between the two sides this season, he had stolen the points for Manor.

From the kick off Manor knew how to close out the game. Richard Woods caught the ball and set up clean ball for McKie to send the ball into Romford’s 22. From here they tried to run back at Manor but were met by solid defences and eventually gave away another kickable penalty. But with time up the ball was kicked to touch and Manor had won 11-8.

Romford had come to the New Wilderness and for 60 minutes been the better side, in truth with only a slender advantage at 8-3 it was always possible for Manor to get back into the game. Romford needed to turn their superiority into points and will rue a couple of forward passes, a knock on close to the try line and not taking 3 points when offered. Manor just had that little bit more experience at this level and this saw them home in the end. Next season Romford won’t make the same mistakes again so Manor beware.

With 2012 coming to a close Manor find themselves in second place in the league and at times have played some excellent rugby with notable victories against Diss, Colchester and Letchworth. With half the season still to go there is still a lot of hard work to put in but all concerned with the team should be proud of what has been achieved so far, but don’t forget, the job is only half done.

Lets hope the boys enjoy their well deserved rest over the Christmas period and come back fit and fired up for their first match of 2013 away to Basildon

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.