Manor travelled to Letchworth to play their re-arranged league fixture, postponed from the previous week. Whilst Manor were in the fortunate position of having a nearly full squad to select from, Letchworth weren’t so fortunate, firstly having to cancel their Easter tour to fulfil this fixture, then having a number of players unavailable for selection. On paper it looked like the game would be a comfortable Manor victory, and at halftime there was nothing to suggest otherwise. That was until the second half when a drop in Manors intensity coupled with the fighting spirit of the home side made Manor work extremely hard for the bonus point victory they desperately wanted.

With Manor kicking off, they were soon in the ascendancy as they competed for the kick off, turning the ball over and set up a series of drives at the home side, with Garth Tucker in particular making good ground, quick ball was set up for Nick Horton to set off his backline with the ball eventually reaching Reece Reed out on the wing, he in turn jinked around a couple of defenders before being brought down 5 meters short of the goal line. Again quickly recycled ball saw Manors backline brought into action only for a knock on in the middle of the pitch bringing a halt to the attack. From the scrum Manor drove the home side off of the ball and won a penalty as Letchworth came off side. Ben Thomas converted the easy penalty and after 4 minutes Manor led 3-0.

Manor continued to boss the game with play almost exclusively taking place inside the Letchworth half, when the home side did have possession, they were met by solid tackling by Manor leaving Letchworth with no option but to kick possession away. It wasn’t long before Manor were again inside Letchworth’s 22 and from an attacking scrum Tucker set off from the back powering over the line, but with the referee unsighted he awarded a 5 meter scrum. Here Manor went to sleep allowing Letchworth to turn the ball over and clear the danger.

Manor still pressed and after a powerful run from Thomas which took him into Letchworth’s 22 he tried to off load to Chris Jones, who was unmarked on the wing, unfortunately Jones was unable to gather the pass and knocked on. Undeterred Manors forwards again won the ball against the head, this time Tucker went blind down the touch line, powered over the attempted tackle and raced in from 20 meters out to score Manors first try of the game. With the successful conversion from out wide Thomas increased Manors lead to 10-0 after 13 minutes.

Letchworth now mounted their first meaningful attack into Manors 22 with a good break by their inside centre which was eventually stopped by a covering tackle from Max Murray, Letchworth were able to get quick ball and when Manor were penalised for going off their feet in front of their posts Letchworth were presented with an easy shot at goal. Unfortunately for the home side their kicker made a hash of the kick and managed to hook it wide and the score remained 10-0 to Manor after 18 minutes of play.

From the 22 drop out Manor pressurised the catcher inside his half causing a knock on. From the scrum Horton darted off down the blind side running 20 meters before feeding the supporting Reed, he cut back inside his opposite number, drew the approaching fullback before passing back to Horton who out sprinted the covering defenders for a well worked try. Again Thomas was successful with the conversion and Manor now led 17-0 after 22 minutes of the first half.

It didn’t take long for Manor to increase their lead when after a series of breaks from Thomas and his centre partner Callum McKie Manor were awarded a penalty for offside and from 35 meters out Thomas made no mistake with the shot at goal, 20-0 to Manor with 30 minutes played.
Manor continued to make chances with the forwards making good inroads with their driving play backed up with some slick moves from the backs, Letchworth were still having difficulty in getting any quality ball, and when they did they resorted to kicking long into Manor’s territory only to find the ball returned with interest by Manors backline who looked to attack at every opportunity with wingers Jones and Reed always a threat with ball in hand. From one such run from Jones, he made 40 meters before feeding the supporting Huw Levis who after beating his man passed out to Reed who was unmarked on the wing with just a 20 meter clear run to the line, as Reed set off the referee blew for a somewhat dubious forward pass decision. From the scrum Letchworth kicked deep into Manor’s territory only for Levis to set up a sweeping move up field where Murray broke through a couple of tackles before feeding Thomas who yet again made good ground before passing to Tucker who powered his way into Letchworth’s 22, drew his opponent then passed to the supporting Alfie Hutcherson who had the pace to beat the covering defenders and score Manors third try of the game. Thomas again converted the difficult extra two points and with time running out in the half, Manor led 27-0.

As the half was drawing to a close, Manor should have added to their try tally straight from the kick off when the impressive Dave Hanna took the kick off and made a decisive break down the middle of the park making 30 meters before setting up quick ball for his fellow forwards who took the ball into Letchworth’s 22, here a 4 on 2 overlap was created 15 meters from Letchworth’s try line but instead of moving the ball along the line Thomas chose to put in a grubber kick in behind the defensive line, the kick was well weighted but in their eagerness to score Dave Dennis and John Robinson got in each others way and between them managed to knock the ball on, and with no time for the scrum the referee blew for half time.

Manor had been in total control for the half and knew that more of the same would result in a handsome win for them, and the bonus point that they needed. What in fact did happened was Manor went to sleep and were guilty of trying to force the game too much. This gave the home side confidence and from nowhere they became a competitive unit that fought all the way to the end.

Straight from their own kick off, Letchworth pressurised Manor into giving away a penalty which they kicked to the corner. Unfortunately they could not build upon this good start as Ian Edwards stole the lineout allowing Horton to clear the danger with a long box kick. This was well fielded and returned with an excellent cross field kick which pinned Manor back into their 22 with a defending lineout. Manor won their ball and worked their way into Letchworth’s half only to then give away a series of penalties, allowing Letchworth to get right back into Manors 22 and after a series of forward drives Manor finally managed to stop Letchworth 5 metres from the try line and turn the ball over. Although Manor had weathered the initial storm after 7 minutes of the second half, it was all Letchworth.

Manor gradually worked their way back in to the game, from a lineout just inside their half Murray made a good break and then from a planned backs move Michael Eghan, who was on as a second half substitute, came in off his wing, executing the move at pace and broke through three tackles as he made is way towards Letchworth’s 22. With a three man overlap on his outside Eghan chose to ignore this and tried to round the fullback, only for him to be tackled knocking the ball on in the process, another try scoring opportunity had gone begging.

Manor were now back in the game but were being met by stiff resistance from the home side. Tempers were beginning to fray and eventually after a series of handbags, the referee showed Letchworth’s replacement prop a yellow card for picking on the smallest player in the Manor side.
With the numerical advantage Manor would have hoped to have increased their score and get the vital bonus point, but poor handling and wrong decisions cost Manor dear. With refereeing decisions for both sides becoming more difficult to understand, the game became very sloppy and disjointed. Manor still pressed with second half substitutions Kevin Reed and Dan Johnson both going close only to be stopped from scoring by determined defence. Eventually Letchworth won a scrum and then set off up field, running the ball from deep inside their 22 with both forwards and backs in support eventually making a gap for their winger to sprint along the touch line and if it hadn’t been for an excellent covering tackle from Horton, Letchworth may well have registered their first points of the game.

Time was running out and with the home side back to full strength it looked as though Manor would be denied their try scoring bonus point. Manor were awarded a scrum just inside Letchworth’s half which Tucker picked up and drove powerfully forward into the middle of the park. The ball was recycled quickly and moved along the line to Jones who had joined in from the opposite wing. He received man and ball but with soft hands he managed to ship the ball out to his fellow winger Eghan who from 20 meters out burst through three attempted tackles and outpaced the covering defenders to dive over the line to score the all important fourth try. The conversion from out wide was just missed as Manor now led 32-0. Letchworth kicked off and the ball found it’s way into the grateful arms of Manor captain Tryson Goodchild who had the simple task of kicking to touch allowing the referee to blow for fulltime.

Manor had won and most importantly of all had gained the vital bonus point. Credit must go to the home side who despite their obvious selection issues, and after what could have been a demoralising first half, came back strongly in the second half and made things very difficult for Manor almost denying them the bonus point.

With three games left to play Manor are now guaranteed a play-off spot. All credit to the players and coaching staff for this magnificent achievement. But with three games still left to play only maximum point victories will give Manor the chance of a home fixture, so there is still a lot of work to put in before the play-offs. With a rejuvenated Ruislip side visiting the New Wilderness next week Manor know that they can’t afford the same sort of lacklustre performance they gave against Letchworth in the second half, otherwise Ruislip will take the spoils.