Mighty Manor 2's Roll On In Lge and Cup!!!

Ok so bear with me this is my first attempt at a match report. As I tend to watch through “red” tinted glasses of emotion I’m not the best at recalling detail of a game – I tend to have to even watch England matches back to be considered and I don’t have the luxury of sky + to watch this game again. That said these lads of the mighty manor 2s deserve a write up this week. With a win vs the local rivals, that counted double!! League points and the cup game were on the line.

A little rotation policy between 1s and 2s meant we had Cosma, Tom Cat and Max Murray with us this week, further bolstered by RDH who wasn’t reffing a kids game this week and thus available. This was a blessing with one of our stalwarts Spurge breaking a nail in training on Thursday. So with 7 lads who have played 1s this season with us we were as usual, very strong…. On paper. We turned up on time, well the majority did and embarked upon our warm up which was probably the best, most switched on, of the season!

Sadly that all changed when the ref blew his whistle! Most will know I am positive if nothing else, but I have to be honest the start was dreadful and that really didn’t alter till half time. The main issue seemed to be around contact, very unlike us. While also forcing the issue in the wrong areas of the pitch, this probably stemmed from over confidence! It was fine margins to be fair as Pikey mentioned to me during play, but the passes which went astray and missed by inches were never an option and only created pressure on ourselves and gave momentum to them. This isn’t to take anything away from Woodford, who were a completely different proposition to the teams we have played over the last couple of seasons. They were better than previously - player for player but it was obvious much more organised, with their bearded captain being prominent for them.

One missed pass led to some pressure and we found ourselves behind the sticks watching a kick having conceded an out of character easy try. I was hoping this would put a spring in our step and up our commitment at the breakdown and if nothing else deal with their wily old hooker who seemed to have borrowed Mr Macaws invisibility cloak. Nothing happened. We continued to try and nick a yard when carrying rather than getting to deck and having quick ball and while we didn’t miss many tackles they were not dominant tackles and that then encouraged our oppo. Woodford then went on to put the best passage of play together and score a good try to make it 10 nil, luckily their kicker was not in the same class as Jeff Bradley from the tee.

This isn’t a position we have found our self in often this season and with my coaches hat on I was intrigued to see the reaction from what is still a young team without a great deal of rugby experience – although the legend that is Dave Dennis makes this up on his own. The reaction was great.

The only saving grace of the first half was our scrum and we scored just before half time to make the score line 10-7 which was flattering to us. Our scrum dominance was taking its toll and Bobby controlled a moving and rotating scrum very well to dot down from a great push over. Stigs made the conversion starting it out wide to trick us into thinking it would miss only to watch it bend like Beckham for the extra 2.

The only mention for our wingers in the first half is their tackling was excellent – this is a reflection on our performance not theirs!

The second half however was a different story…. Once again their hooker was offside, finally we dealt with him by politely asking him to go back his side. By this I mean Ryan smashed the granny out of him. To which Ryans opposite number took offence at and cuddled Ryan. Ryan reciprocated the cuddle and what happened next I can only say was a shock. Whilst cuddling and showing mutual appreciation their flanker started to unload on our comfortable and contented Ryan. Ryan, lets say retaliated. Unfortunately rather than leave these two macho flankers to it, others decided to weigh in. It’s the first one and I hope the last one of the season. Again with coaches hat on I was gutted to see the aggression come to the fore in this way but at least we had showed some aggression and it was only in retaliation.

We pretty much controlled the whole game and every aspect – although our own line out still didn’t function – I’ll take some responsibility on that for changing it on Thursday – sorry lads. With the strength of our bench we have to make changes not for performance levels but to ensure lads get game time. On that note, Elton came on for DD, Frankie for Vickers, Carly for Stigs – which meant we moved RDH to 10 and Manuel for Pikey. Elton is a prop in the making and Saturday may well be the day we look back at and say that was a turning point for the young man mountain. DD is of a standard he can even prop in astro trainers (I kid you not) so its normal to see his opposite number go backwards and expel air at regular intervals. To see this continue with Elton at TH was a thing of beauty. We dominated the scrum for the entire 2nd half.

Bone by now had slotted back into his season long form – surely a contended for 2s player of the year – being abrasive and moving the ball quicker – to be fair he was allowed to do this in the second half as we tidied up the ruck. RDH for a girlie back, is very confrontational (I love it) and kicks a rugby ball a mile, with the wind and hail at his back we played well over 80% of the 2nd half in their half of the pitch which in itself reduces our pressure and adds to theirs.

The scrum dominance lead to a few penalties, which I was pleased to see us opt sometimes for the scrum again. Frankie getting a deserved shot in the back row after helping us out for most of the season in the 2nd row, and with Bobby being off with “injured hands” (say no more) Frank took his chance picked and broke to the right got outside their 6 and put Bone into space and with his pace he went in under the sticks. Max took a moment away from gliding around the pitch beating defenders for fun to slot the extra 2.

Frankie then began to enjoy himself too much and had what can only be described as a terrible seizure….. brought on by WHITE LINE FEVER. For weeks we have been talking about body positions and angles and bless him he got within about 3 yards of the line, he then had a decent leg drive to get closer at which point about 3 of them got under him. So he obviously thought he would go over them….wrong. The ball rose from the melee in Franks hands similar to the final lift in Dirty Dancing (yes ive watched it…. .once… honest) higher and higher, so high it looked more like a lineout. Or he was ready to slam dunk a basketball, either way the end result was obvious…. Frankie got dumped and deservedly so. A valuable lesson learnt.

The 3rd try was a great team try, we moved the ball thru a few phases went back to our pattern of 2 nines and Ryan took an “average” line off Bone, but it was good enough with their defence at 6s & 7s to go over and dot down. Max added the extras.

The boys had a strangle hold on the game at 21-10 with only 10 mins left. They allowed a mercy sub, and Sweaty Gav kindly made way for the old boy to have a 10 min cameo. Thanks lads ;)

The last try was simple good driving line out play, a little pick and go, moved to RDH at 10 who put a delightful grubber in for Carly to pick up and flop over for a well worked and extremely well finished 7 points. Max doing the honours.

The last few mins of the game were comfortably dealt with and the final whistle was lovely to hear. Local rivalries are special and games and wins need to be appreciated. In terms of our performance, it wasn’t the best, but the character was superb. Ill quickly forget the 1st half and remember the 2nd for a long time – especially the last 10 mins haha. Our MOM. Bone, Elton, Ryan, Carly, all would have a decent shout but if we are being honest the only lad who got close to performing well for 80mins was RDH

Honourable mentions to two Woodford players. Wily Hooker for buying Keeny a beer – I’ve always loved this tradition and hope to see it more. Their captain threatening their young flanker to shut up or he will sub him. Two great rugby traditions being held up by our hosts. Fair play chaps and thank you.