Manor two's stutter to another win

On the second game of the season Upminster were put to the sword when Manor beat them 75 nil, but recent Upminster scores showed a vast improvement so I knew another high score was unlikely. Also that was on a dry pitch which suits our small fast side better.

So after a week of miserable weather which consisted of rain, snow and then more rain I waited in anticipation to see the state of Upminster’s pitch as they are known have one of the muddiest pitches in the world.

I managed to pick a decent enough team this week with the back line having some serious pace in it (bar me of course).

As we jogged out onto their famous (not for the right reasons) sloping first team pitch there was clearly a big deep puddle in the middle of it. Quite rightly the ref wasn’t happy with it and the game was moved to Upminster’s second team pitch. This had no puddles on it but was as muddy as hell; it was also the smallest pitch I have ever seen. This is when I got my first look at Upminster, gone were the young bucks that got hammered at the Manor and in were some athletic looking backs and some big 40 odd year old forwards. I looked down at the sopping wet mud covered pitch, looked at my pack of mainly 17, 18 & 19 year olds and knew this would a more even affair.

From the kick off Upminster received the ball and started to attack, Manor were putting in some big tackles and defending well. The game was played in the middle of the pitch for the first 10 minutes with Upminster having the lion’s share of possession, they used their big pack to batter at the defensive line keeping the ball tight and recycling well but these youngsters do not miss tackles and in the end Upminster were forced to kick the ball to touch.

Manor won our own lineout in our 22 and started to attack, but it seemed every time we tried to move the ball it was either dropped or the very indifferent referee decided he had seen an infringement.

So the pattern began, Upminster would attack without ever really looking dangerous, we would defend stoutly until we could nick the ball and then the ref would blow up, penalise us and give the ball bag to Upminster. .

I must say that Manor’s small pack gave Upminster a lot of trouble at the scrum, an impressive fete as Manor were giving away at least 2 stone a man, but the small muddy pitch just played into Upminster’s hands and they used there very large No. 8 to great effect all game.

On 20mins from a scrum in the centre of the pitch Manor loaded the backs onto one side leaving acres of space for rapid scrum half Reece Reed to pick and go, he rounded two players to cross the line in the corner. But he was not done, instead of grounding the ball in the corner he drew the last defender and from the in goal area he passed it inside to Jumbo to score under the posts. Reece got the conversion (7 – 0)

For the rest of the first half the same pattern ensued, every time we got the ball the ref would penalise us within two phases. The Manor players got more and more frustrated and looked to the older players for an explanation of what they were doing wrong but we couldn’t help as 75% of his decisions were a complete mystery, asking him was a waste of time as he would just give another penalty against us for talking to him.

From one of these penalties Upminster kicked to touch close to Manor’s line, after a successful line out one of their large pack drove for the line, once his muddy slide ended his arm went out and dotted the ball down. “Double movement” said the Ref and the try was scratched off. We never complained but we knew a perfectly good try had just been scored. I think Upminster realised that they were getting absolutely no joy from the Manor defence so decided that their best way to win the game was to convert some of these penalties in points. They kicked one before half time and Manor went into half time leading 7 – 3.

We made changes at half time making sure everyone got a game in these conditions and the players were reminded to say absolutely nothing to the volatile referee.

Within one minute of the second half a sweet backs move on the halfway line put Connor through a hole and he had too much pace for the covering Upminster defenders. Jack White got the conversion (14 – 3)

I quietly hoped that our injection of confidence would raise our performance, but sadly the referee was having none of it and he continued to penalise Manor every minute for pretty much the whole second half. (yet no yellow cards were shown….strange)

Upminster kicked two more penalties to bring the score back to 14 – 9 but with seconds left on the clock the mud sodden ball was dropped for the millionth time, George Cast hacked it through and Reece Reed won the race to ground it. Reece converted his own try (21 – 9). One of the most un-enjoyable games of my career was over but at least we had won. That’s 10 games and 10 wins now.

We may have won but it felt like a loss, the changing room was full of doom and gloom as the players discussed the referee’s interpretation of the law.

Congratulations must go to Upminster for their much improved performance, their very large pack are clearly suited to muddier conditions. Manor on the other hand have struggled in the mud, with such a small young pack the thick mud is definitely becoming a levelling factor but the defence of this team is outstanding. They seem to really enjoy tackling and never leave it to the next player.

Once the pitch starts to dry a little I am positive that they will start to win by bigger margins again.

Man of the Match goes to Franny, good in defence, strong in attack and daddy to most of the pre pubescent pack.

Next week we are away to the old enemy Woodford which will be a 14:00 KO.