Manor well beaten by high flying Old Haberdashers.

A much changed Manor team welcomed Old Haberdasher’s who sat 2nd place in the league with a place in the play offs firmly in their own hands. They proved to be too strong for a Manor side who struggled at the set piece, especially at the lineout where the lack of a specialist to thrown in meant that their usual solid source of possession was almost wiped out.

Manor kicked off the day with a swirling wind favouring the visitors and it was they who had all the early pressure. Manor defended well knocking ball carriers back in the tackle but eventually they gave away a penalty. Hab’s opted to kick for a lineout but the ball went dead giving Manor a chance to clear their lines for a 22 drop out. Unfortunately the re-start was half charged down and the ball went to the hands of a Hab’s player who took advantage of some unusually poor tackling to run through Manors defences and score under the posts. With the simple conversion successful Manor found themselves 0 – 7 behind after 6 minutes.

Hab’s continued to have the better of things causing Manor to defend their line, which this time they did, eventually forcing a mistake from their opposition allowing them to clear the danger from a scrum.

Manors lineout woes were costing them dear when they were unable to capitalise on promising territorial advantage by losing a number of their own lineouts. With ball in hand Manor were having more joy, a good break from debutant No8 Sam Jackson saw him power his way into Hab’s 22, he linked with Ben Boulton-Smith who after making some more hard yards passed back to Jackson who was brought down feet short of the line, as he went to ground he popped the ball back to the supporting Nick Horton who would have gone over the line if it hadn’t been for a retreating Hab’s player who got his hand in the way of Jackson's pass, Hab’s tried to clear the danger by running the ball out but Manor held the ball up and won a scrum. Jackson powered off the back of the scrum and was brought to ground just short of the line but Manor won a penalty, Horton took a quick tap and passed out to Kirk Chettleburgh who ignored the players outside him, cut back inside and drove over the line for a 7 point score, with 20 minutes gone the scores were level at 7 all.

Manor soon found themselves behind again with the score stemming from another lost lineout and a subsequent penalty which Hab’s kicked for an attacking lineout. They caught and drove the ball, Manor defended the initial drive but a series of pick and drives by Hab’s well drilled forwards saw them score their second try. With the conversion again successful Hab’s took a 7-14 lead after 28 mins.

Hab’s continued to press Manor and although their defence was working well the visitors pressed for another score before the break and their possession and territorial advantage paid off with two quick tries, the second coming after Manor were reduced to 14 players when Craig Ratford was penalised for a foul in the red zone and was sent to the bin for 10 minutes. Habs took advantage of their numerical advantage and with the last play of the half crossed the line for their fourth try and although the conversion was missed Hab’s went in at half time holding a deserved 7 – 26 lead.

Hab’s kicked off the second half and soon picked up from where they had finished the first half, on the attack. After winning a lineout and scrum they set up a series a driving runs which eventually saw them score another try against 14 man Manor. 7 – 33.

Manor were having more quality possession now and using the wind to their advantage kept Habs on the back foot. After a number of drives Ratford put a short kick ahead close to Hab’s line, although Hab’s won the race to the ball they took it behind their own line and gave away an attacking scrum. With possession secured Bolton-Smith took on the crash ball then supported by driving runs from Billy Cosma, Brad Burrell and Chettleburgh. With the ball again set up close to the line Burrell picked up and drove over the line but crashed into his own player and the ref disallowed the try for an accidental offside.

Manor continued to enjoy the better of possession and territory with their forwards now making inroads through Hab’s defence and after giving away a number of penalties inside their 22 Hab’s were reduced to 14 men when their gobby scrum half was sent to the bin for repeated infringements.

It was Manors turn to take advantage of an extra man and after retaining possession well the forwards set up a series of driving mauls which eventually saw Burrell go over in the corner for Manors second try. Mike Sage was unlucky to hit the post with the difficult conversion attempt but Manor had closed the gap slightly after 25 minutes of play, 12 – 33.

Manor had now lost centre Carly Buisson to a serious looking injury, his replacement was another debutant Sam Wamala.

Although Manor continued to offer an attacking threat it was Habs who finished the game the stronger scoring another three try’s all of which went unconverted to bring the final score to 12 – 48.

Manor had been well beaten on the day by a good outfit, there are a number of areas to work upon in training before they travel to Brentwood who currently sit one place above them in the league.

After the game DOR Mark Farrell said ‘A very difficult day for us, but we are not going to win games without the ball, certain aspects of our game was simply not good enough. Old Haberdashers came here in second place with a strong pack and a simple game plan which they executed very well and full credit to them. Losing games is never easy, losing games in the manner in which we did, even harder. But these lads are resilient, honest and above all dedicated. Our coaching team will identify areas we need to work on and together we will be back on the training ground on Tuesday & Thursday night, working hard to put things right. We still have 5 games to go, 3 of which are at home, 25 points at stake and we will look to take them all. Brentwood RFC up next, a game we always look forward to and it has all the markings of a classic with both sides’ league positions at 5th & 6th respectively.’