Manor welcomed Colchester to the New Wilderness for the last home game of the season. In the corresponding fixture at Xmas, Manor came away with a very good victory. Since then, their form has deserted them putting them out of contention for promotion. Colchester on the other hand, were still very much in the race for the third available promotion spot and knew a victory would give them a great chance of going up this season.

With Colchester kicking off the match it was they who started much the brighter of the two sides and they soon put Manor under pressure inside their 22 and although Manor did manage to keep them at bay for a while, eventually the pressure told and Colchester worked the ball out wide to score an unconverted try in the corner, with three minutes played Manor were behind 0 – 5.

Manor now started getting into the game and after winning back possession their forwards through BJ Tunde and Jesse Liston made good ground before centre Lloyd Anderson made a good break from deep taking play deep inside Colchester’s half where he won a penalty which was kicked for an attacking lineout inside the visitors 22. Unfortunately the attack came to a grinding halt when poor handling after the lineout handed possession back to Colchester, a theme that would continue throughout the match.

Manor continued to have a good period of possession with some more powerful forward runs, stretching the oppositions defences, but they just held firm until another knock on again handed possession over.

Manor had the upper hand in the scrums, something that they had done for a while against a Colchester team renowned for their powerful scrum, but they couldn’t take any meaningful advantage from this despite winning a penalty, the resulting kick for a lineout didn’t find touch allowing Colchester to clear the ball deep into Manors half.

Colchester’s second try was a little fortuitous when they tried to break through Manors defence but couldn’t so chose to kick, Aaron Lowe did well to put pressure on the kicker and charged down the kick but didn’t get the bounce of the ball as it fell kindly to a Colchester player enabling the visitors to build up more pressure inside Manors 22, eventually scoring and with the conversion successful after 25 minutes the score was 0 – 12.

Both sides suffered injuries and having to substitute players, Colchester settled the quickest and soon went over for their third try, unconverted it still moved the score along to 0 – 17 after 35 minutes.

With a number of minutes added to the half for injury time Manor finished the strongest with a sustained period of pressure inside Colchester’s 22 and with strong running by David Ogufere, Ciaran Preston and Geoff Hughes, the Colchester defence was just about holding wave after wave of attacks, but yet again poor handling let Manor down allowing Colchester to clear the danger and end the half deserved leaders on the scoreboard.

Manor kicked off the second half and soon set up a good attacking opportunity when Christian Squire broke from deep taking play 40 meters up the pitch before being brought to ground, unfortunately Manor couldn’t recycle the ball allowing Colchester the clear the ball back into Manor territory.

Still Manor continued to attack and from a lineout inside their own half, Ogufere was the next player to break free and power his way up the park and into Colchester’s 22, but again Manor couldn’t capitalise on the territory made.

The game was being played with great intensity with massive hits being made by both sides. Ogufere was injured in one such tackle and had to be substituted with Jack Scorer taking his place.

Manor still had the upper hand, but only just, Colchester were tactically kicking the ball back to Manor making them attack from deep inside their own half, from one such kick Squire again showed his pace as he set off on a counter attack before feeding young substitute Luca Minns out on the wing, he beat two or three players taking play into Colchester’s half before the ref brought play to a halt for an injury to a Colchester player. The game re-started with a scrum which Manor drove back winning a penalty. Kicking for a lineout saw play move close to Colchesters 22 and with the throw in secured the forwards, with Davide Banfield and Hughes to the fore, drove the ball on, but again Manor couldn’t convert the pressure into points.

It was Colchester who now took control of the game and hit Manor hard inside their 22, Manor were giving away a number of penalties and eventually Lowe was yellow carded for a high tackle. Despite having the man advantage Colchester couldn’t break through Manors ferocious defence as time and time again they were knocked back in the tackle and eventually Manor won a scrum as the ball was knocked on. Hughes was the latest player to have to leave the field but even so at the next scrum Manors still drove Colchester back and with the ref playing a penalty advantage Manor moved the ball out to their backline where Anderson broke through a number of tackles and made his way from his 22 right up to Colchester’s 22 before passing out to the supporting Jordan Sullivan-Warner who with a clear run towards the line set off only to be brought back by the ref who, despite being well behind play, deemed that the final pass was forward.

As the game wore on Colchester continued to search for their bonus point try but again were met by a solid defensive line inside Manors 22. When the visitors knocked the ball on Manor set up an attack from the subsequent scrum. Scorer burst off the back before feeding his backline, where Minns again got his hands on the ball, spotting a gap in the Colchester line he sprinted through outpacing the covering defenders and took play from deep inside his 22 right up to Colchester’s 5 meter line where he was finally caught and bundled into touch but not before he managed to offload the ball to the supporting Sullivan – Warner who cantered over the line for Manors only score, Nick Horton successfully converted it and with time almost up Manor sensed that they could still get something out of the game at 7 – 17.

Colchester had other ideas though and after Manor were forced to box kick, they gathered the ball and set up a free flowing attack which ended with their winger driving over the line in the corner to secure the victory and a try bonus point.

With little time left to play no further scoring opportunities were created and the ref brought the contest to an end with Colchester the deserved winners 7 – 22.