Manor welcomed local rivals Woodford to the New Wilderness this week, Woodfords player coach had said in the press that ‘league positions go out of the window’ when it came to local derby’s. Manor showed that league positions don’t lie and made sure that the window was firmly shut after their comfortable victory where for a second consecutive week they stopped their opponents from scoring any points.

In conditions that didn’t suit Manors style of play, they kicked off and the tone of the match was set immediately when Jon Berry smashed the Woodford catcher backwards. The visitors managed to retain possession but as they tried to run at Manor with ball in hand they were stopped before they could gain any ground. Although Woodford retained possession well they could not break the stranglehold put on them by Manors aggressive tackling. The pressure soon told as Woodford appeared to panic and sent a poor pass back into their own dead ball area, here they knocked the ball on, Manors Rhys Davis-Horne tried to get to the bouncing ball but was just beaten by a Woodford defender who gave away a 5 meter scrum.

Manor controlled the scrum ,something they did all game, allowing Ollie Waugh to drive off the back, a good tackle brought him down a few meters short of the line, but Manor quickly recycled the ball where Tom Christopher got hold of it and dove through two attempted tackles to go over the line for Manors first try of the game. Cameron Dutch was successful with the extra points and after 4 minutes Manor led 7 – 0.

From the restart Manor put Woodford back under pressure when they gathered the re-start cleanly and after a short drive fed the ball back to Davis-Horne, he then sent a kick from his 22 into Woodfords 22 where the defence could only knock the ball into touch. From the resulting lineout Jack Sullivan gathered the ball which allowed Manor to set off on a powerful drive which was only stopped when it was brought down illegally by Woodfords scrum half, who received a yellow card for his troubles.

Manor now kept Woodford pinned inside their 22 and although they pressurised the line, the visitors defence was working well and kept the hosts at bay. Eventually Woodford won a defending lineout which allowed them to kick deep into Manors half where Dutch gathered the kick and set off up field, he then sent up a high kick of his own and as he chased the ball he was taken out late by Woodford’s fullback, the ref awarded Manor a penalty and sent the fullback to join his scrum half in the sin bin.

Nick Horton kicked the penalty to touch for an attacking lineout. Kirk Chettleburgh caught the throw in allowing the ball to be moved out to Jake Campey in the centre, he stepped his man then sent a long pass out to Harry Bone on the wing who outstripped his opposite number then headed for the line and dived in at the corner. Dutch was unsuccessful with the touchline conversion but Manor had extended his lead to 12 – 0 after 15 minutes of the half.

Manor immediately increased their lead when the re-start was caught by Chettleburgh who made good ground before passing out to Davis-Horne, he sent a kick out to the wing where Jamie Millais gathered the ball. After making 15 meters up field Millais drew his man and fed the supporting Aaron Lowe who went over from 25 meters out to record Manors third try. This time Dutch was successful with the difficult conversion meaning the scored had moved on to 19 - 0 after 17 minutes.

Woodford now had period of possession, but their fairly one dimensional attack was dealt with by Manors impregnable defence who eventually won a scrum from a knock on in the tackle.
With the rain coming down harder handling was getting more difficult for both sides, Manor should have increased their lead after a searing break by Dutch who made 50 meters towards the Woodford line before being brought down 7 meters shorts, Manors support was quickest to the ball and with Woodfords defence struggling to get back in line a clean gather of the ball would have resulted in a score, but it wasn’t to be as Manor knocked the ball on.
Manor kept up the pressure and looked to have scored again when after a series of forward dives the ball was passed out to Davis-Horne who put in a well weighted crossfield kick where fullback Dutch caught the ball and outpaced the covering defenders to go in at the corner only to be denied a try by the ref who judged that Dutch had been in front of the kicker.
The rest of the half rumbled on with Woodford again having their fair share of possession and retaining the ball well and aided by Manor giving away a number of penalties, they spent time in and around Manors 22, but they never looked like scoring. With play moving to the middle of the park the ref brought to end the first half.

Manor soon added to their score when Woodford kicked off the half giving away a scrum when the ball didn’t go the required distance. From the scrum Manors backline took play into Woodfords 22 where the forwards took up the attack with good runs from Robb Falls and Waugh, Millais joined in from his wing and was stopped on the line but when the ball was recycled Cluttenburg had the strength to power over the line for Manors bonus point fourth try. With the conversion good Manor had increased their lead to 26 – 0.

Woodford now capitalised on Manor being penalised a number of times at the breakdown, this allowed Woodford to get to within 10 meters of Manors line for an attacking lineout. Here they caught and drove the ball forward but Manor held the drive and managed to turn the ball over and kicked it deep into Woodfords half.

The game became increasing scrappy, with Manor taking their foot off the pedal allowing Woodford to have more possession, but the conditions dictated that neither side were able to hold onto the ball for long.

After a period of Woodford possession Manor moved the ball into Woodfords 22 where they were awarded a scrum. Three times the scrum was set and three times Manor drove the Woodford 8 backwards causing the visitors to give away a penalty. On the third occasion the Woodford loose head again buckled under the pressure being put on him, this halted Manors drive to the line to, the ref had no option to but award a penalty try and send the Woodford player to the bin. With another seven points added to the score Manor now lead 33 – 0 after 20 minutes.

Manor continued to have the upper hand but were giving too many penalties to build multiple phases. There was still time though for Woodford to receive yet another yellow card when their number 8 took Sullivan out in the air at a line out.

With the game petering out Manor always looked like the side who would score, but it wasn’t to be. They coped well with anything that Woodford threw at them and the visitors did not look like troubling the scoreboard and with time up the ref brought to an end the contest.

After the game Manors Director of Rugby Mark Farrell said “ A good result but not overly satisfying. Not the easiest of conditions to play our expansive style of rugby and at times we took some poor options, but that said when we did connect, we showed our precision play to score some very well made tries.
This side is still developing and it takes time to form the partnerships necessary to become a complete team. It was good to see that our back row of Waugh, Chettleburgh & Falls are now becoming a formidable unit.
We can take a lot from the fact that although we recorded our second win in a row without a point being scored against us, the players were not happy with their performance and we have areas identified to work on this week before we travel to League leaders North Walsham next Saturday."