Manor made the long journey to Norfolk for a top of the table clash with North Walsham who sat at the top of the table with maximum points. It is never an easy place to go to and this year was no exception as Manor came off second best to the hosts who were well drilled and possessed a very good set of backs , well orchestrated by their impressive fly half.

Manor kicked off the match and had the better of the early exchanges but North Walsham got themselves into the game aided by Manor giving away a number of penalties. A period of pressure from the home side followed but this was finally stopped when the North Walsham winger tried to round Manors Jamie Millais who was more than up to the task bringing his man to ground and winning a turnover which was kicked down field. Millais gave chase and again competed for the ball winning Manor a penalty which they kicked to North Walsham’s 22.

With Frankie Sullivan winning the throw in, Manor set off on a driving maul which was eventually brought down illegally and with advantage being played Rhys Davis-Horne sent a cross-field kick towards Harry Bone on the wing, but the kick was just too long so play was brought back for Manors penalty. With another lineout taken from the penalty Manor drove towards the line, Ollie Waugh, Kirk Chettleburgh and Jon Berry all tried to cross the line but were repelled by good defence. Ryan Lee then tried his luck, but again was stopped short, with the ball set up Jack Sullivan gathered it and drove low and hard and despite the attention of four defenders he managed to get the ball over the line for Manors first points. Cameron Dutch was successful with the difficult conversion and after 15 minutes Manor led 0 – 7.

The game was now fairly even but Manor continued to be penalised by the ref which put themselves under pressure. With North Walsham winning an attacking lineout inside Manors 22 they moved the ball swiftly to the centre where their winger broke through the middle and only an excellent tackle by Dutch prevented him from scoring but North Walsham recycled the ball quickly and fast hands saw the ball out to the wing where the hosts went over for their first try of the game. The conversion from the touchline was successful and after 25 minutes scores were level 7 – 7.

North Walsham were now in the ascendancy and Manor were being pinned back in their own half. North Walsham’s backline was causing problems and it wasn’t long before they again broke through Manors line for their centre to score between the posts and take North Walsham into a lead that they did not relinquish, 14 – 7 after 28 minutes.

It wasn’t long before North Walsham increased their lead even further, this time it came from turnover ball. Manor were attacking inside North Walsham’s half when they lost possession, the hosts set off on a fast paced counter attack, with ball in hand North Walsham’s flyhalf took the ball forward before putting in a well weighted kick in behind Manors defence for his winger to chase. Dutch spotted the danger but was just beaten to the ball as the winger hacked the ball into the dead ball area and won the race to touch it down, although the conversion was missed the score had moved on to 19 – 7 after 32 minutes.

Manor ended the half the stronger of the two sides and after a powerful run by Jake Campey who had a good game in the centre for Manor, Manor forwards pounded the North Walsham line where eventually Ollie Waugh broke through the defence and went over for Manors second try which was again converted, this time by Mike Sage, who was on for Dutch, and with a few minutes left to play in the half Manor had reduced the deficit to 19 – 14 and this is how it stayed until half time.

With North Walsham kicking off the second half play was fairly even for the first 10 minutes then North Walsham’s had a sustained period of pressure inside Manors 22. Manor were defending well but the face of the game changed when Davis-Horne went to intercept a pass with one hand and knocked the ball on. The ref deemed it to be a deliberate knock on and sent the Manor player to the sin bin.

North Walsham made the best of their man advantage and during the next 10 minutes they scored another two quick tries and by the time Manor were back to full strength Manor were behind 31 – 14 after 23 minutes.

Manor were doing their best to get back into the game and after another good break by Campey who then linked up with Aaron Lowe, Manor were now inside North Walsham’s 22, but as the ball was moved along the line it was knocked on allowing North Walsham to clear the danger from a scrum.

North Walsham should had added to their tally when their centre broke through Manors line and after beating a couple of defenders headed for the line but lost control of the ball and knocked it on.

Manor worked their way back up into North Walsham’s half and after good powerful runs from Millais and Campey the forwards took play to North Walsham’s 22 where Lowe got possession and moved towards the line, when stopped short he passed out to the supporting Campey who went over for a well deserved try. The conversion was missed but at 31 – 19 and with 8 minutes left to play Manor saw an opportunity to gain at least a try scoring bonus point.

As it transpired it was not to be and the home side finished the stronger and scored two quick converted try’s to take the final score to 45 – 19.
Manor had been well beaten but were disappointed not to have left with at least a bonus point. They had not been clinical enough in their finishing and in defence they had uncharacteristically been sloppy and let in some try’s with poor tackling.

Next week gives Manor the opportunity to put the performance behind them when they entertain Chingford for another local derby, with an improved display there is no reason whey they should not be confident of getting back to winning ways.