A Fine performance in the mud closes out the season

We were ready to end our promotional season with hopefully a victory and a coach party. The coach arrived on time, the players arrived on time and we were ready to leave. Just like school I called the register on the coach to make sure we didn’t leave anyone behind, Brad Cotton…….Brad Cotton……Where’s Brad? Calls were made and ignored, texts were sent and ignored and finally Facebook messages (which Brad lives on) were sent and ignored. We were now running way behind schedule with no fly half. The decision was made to call the 3rd team fly half Hollis Blake who even though he is in his mid forties is still a very tidy player. He answered our prayers and we were off and very late.

A conversation with the coach driver started. Are you going to take the M25 mate? No the A12 will be empty today he replied. The people within his earshot let him know that that the A12 is NEVER clear and that the M25 would be quicker but he was adamant that the A12 was clear. So we left him to it as he is the professional. So after taking the A12 and sitting in a huge amount of traffic the call was made to Southend rugby club to put back the kick off by 30mins. (Cheers driver!!!)
We finally got to Southend after sitting in nearly 2 hours traffic, quickly got changed and headed out to our pitch. After the 2 days of constant rain recently the pitch was a mess. Only 50% of it had grass and the rest was gooey mud. Not the kind of pitch we was hoping for but Southend would have to play on it as well I thought. When Southend jogged out they were gargantuan. A really big experienced side with big props, big second rows and a big back row. Even the backs were big lads. Bloody hell I thought this is going to be a tough game in these conditions.
With our short, sharp warm up out the way we were ready to KO.

Southend kicked off, the ball was dropped backwards by Manor, it was picked up by a Manor forward who threw a shocking pass to nobody where the ball was touched by a player in an offside position and Southend kicked the easy penalty to go 3 nil up after one minute. Everyone on the sideline crossed our fingers and hoped this was not a sign of things to come. (3 - 0)
After about 2mins of rugby Manor dropped the ball and it was time for the first scrum. BOOM!!! The tiny Manor pack in comparison drove the huge Southend pack off the ball will ease winning the ball against the head. OK I thought, game on. The game plan was to make the older, bigger Southend side run and it began to work immediately. Even though we didn’t capitalise on it enough the Southend front five were often found on the wing trying to catch a breather while the fitter Manor side made it to every break down. This meant lots of turn over ball and in turn lots of ball for the talented backs line. A few rewinds against the tired props looked on but it’s often easily spotted when you’re on the sidelines and not when your actually playing.
After 15mins of scrappy play Manor finally worked their way up the field and got a lineout inside the Southend 22. With a clean catch and drive the pack powered their way over the line. It was flanker Gav who rose with the ball in hand. Jack got the conversion (3 -7)
Surprisingly on the mud covered pitch Manor were the better side, especially in the forwards where the smaller Manor pack totally dominated the first half in every way. But the state of the pitch and mud covered ball made running rugby near on impossible.
Manors second try came after a break from no.8 Franny, he was finally halted by the Southend fullback but had enough strength to stay on his feet and off loaded the ball to scrum half Joe White who had just enough pace to elude the chasers and make it the 30mtrs to the try line. Jack missed the conversion. (3 – 12)
As I said earlier Manor’s scrum was in total control. Three times the scrum was called on the Southend try line but for some reason or another the ball was either knocked on or not controlled properly thus missing the certain try. But Manor did not loose their heads and captain for the day Franny rightly recalled the scrum next time the opportunity arose. Back went the Southend pack behind their own try line, there was a scramble for the ball and from the muddy mess there was Flanker Irish Craig claiming his first try this season (I will point out that Joe White is also claiming this try but I will let them two fight it out). Jack missed the conversion (3 – 17)
We could hear grumbles within the Southend pack as they were really struggling to win a scrum and low and behold for the forth time in five games the opposition claimed their front row was injured and we would have to go to unopposed scrums. I actually believe Southend this time though as their hooker looked genuinely hurt. But this did mean that our complete dominance of the scrum was over……again. I think something needs to be done about this law as it is far too easy to cheat and the refs don’t seem to realise that the team that calls for the uncontested scrum has to drop a player and go down to 14 players. Our female referee was very good but again we found neither the ref or her assessor was aware of this law.
(With 5mins left of the game the assessor informed me that he had looked it up and that I was actually right.)

Half time score: Southend 3 Eton Manor 17

The second half saw Southend get a bit more ball (from uncontested scrums) but apart from their outside centre making one telling break the Manor defence was like a brick wall all game. Southend did produce a couple of overlaps but two big “man and ball” tackles from winger Sam Green ended that. By now both teams were so covered in mud that it was hard to tell who was who. The Manor backs tried to attack and made plenty of half breaks but they could never hold onto the ball long enough to make it over the try line. For about 10mins Southend laid siege to Manor’s try line with their big forwards charging onto the ball. They inched closer and closer until a big tackle dislodged the ball and Manor finally cleared the danger.
Manors forth try came on about the 60 minute mark when slimmer of the season Ryan McEnvoy showed fantastic pace when he peeled off the back of a rolling maul to run 50mtrs into the corner. Prop Ryan played in the first game of the season against Southend but was over 3 stone heavier back then. His girlfriend has also mentioned that his stamina has increased too so well done Ryan. Jack missed the conversion (3 – 22)
5mins later and it was Captain Franny who picked up of the base of a scrum and after beating two defenders boshed his way over the line. Jack missed the conversion (3 – 27)

The final 10mins was dominated by Manor as Southend’s older team began to run out of steam but credit to them The Manor could not score again and the game ended Southend 3 Eton Manor 27.

A good performance on a horrible pitch! I think Southend can have no complaints about the score as apart from 10mins in the second half it was all Manor. Southend are a good physical side but once the pack destroyed their scrum there was only going to be one winner.

Man of the Match goes to Hollis Blake who not only helped us out at a moments notice but also played well and was in total control of the back line all game.

The drinking and singing was legendry and we totally took over Southend’s rugby club until they asked us to leave because we were singing too loudly (I didn’t think that was possible). The coach trip was drunk and noisy and the celebrations continued well into Sunday Morning. Our poor bar staff must have the patience of saints. Also thanks to the supporters who came with us on the coach, your sideline banter made the match even more enjoyable.

We now turn our attention to the cup. Manor second team has never won the main cup before but with the semi final only two weeks away the double (league and cup) is definitely a possibility.

Well done to everyone who has played for the second team this season, It has been a pleasure being your captain.