Eton Manor 3rds - Barking 4ths

I don't know what it was like on the pitch to play in but from where I was standing it was a frustrating and often dull game to watch. Barking appeared to be taking the game very seriously as their fly half opted to take an early penalty to take the lead.

Manor clearly had the better chunk of possession but were prevented from generating any rhythm as a series of 'interesting' decisions from the ref massively disrupted any continuity. Also both stand-offs were guilty of trying clever kick's ahead that never really came off. In fact the Barking fly-half, I initially thought was a bit of a show-pony. He tried drop-kicks, had his name stitched in his boots (unless he was borrowing them from someone called Steadman) and he adopted a Jonny Wilkinson stance prior to penalties and conversions.

However the Barking fly-half found his form and against the run of play created a score. He kicked ahead and found his centre who off-loaded in the tackle. An impressive conversion followed.

For me the most interesting part of the half was trying to determine what the puppies of Ralf Nocaro's and another spectators dog would look like if they mated. I came to the conclusion it would be a large, pink, short haired Labrador type beast. Another personal highlight was having a conversation with Paul Felton who took no more than 3 minutes to remind me of his age. (53 in case you haven't spoken to him lately)

There was a moment of interest for the Manor players and fans when a decision eventually went their way. A solid scrum let the ball go wide and Ian Lovett clearly scored. The decision to award the try took forever but eventually came. A comedy conversion attempt from Barry after bought a smile or two mainly because of his reaction to his miss.

The score took the quality of the half up a thousand notches to mediocre.

Basically a brand new team started for the Manor in the second half - and they conceded a try almost immediately. The Barking fly-half - who was really controlling the game, again saw space ahead to which he delightfully kicked into. The Barking centre again won the race for the try. 17 - 5

Hollis moved to fly-half which almost paid dividends. The backs started to see a bit more ball, and Kieron was being a menace up the middle. But a fumbled move saw a ball dropped and Barking's back pounced to wellie the ball up the field for another. It was turning into a bit of disaster. Any snap and urgency and aggression that was there, albeit in limited quantities, prior to the try then evaporated. Furthermore the ref managed to injure Willie Nash at the lineout. He somehow kicked him in the Achilles. It was an apt metaphor for the game. Nevertheless Manor had some sustained possession in the Barking 22. Chris the winger, who resembles a hench-man for a Colombian drug lord spilled a golden opportunity, but Ian Lovett did manage to go over to keep it interesting.

The move of the game came from Barking. The waif of a scrum-half skinned Lovett at the base of the scrum much like Buffalo-Bill in Silence of the Lambs. The little fella then drew the Manor defence and off-loaded to the full-back for an elegant try.

Manor really had all the territory but couldn't make it count. Barking did threaten to break from deep on a number of occasions but forward passes let them down. Manor scored a pretty try at the end. The ball went to the end of the line where it was held up. Eugene looped round to collect. He dragged a number of Barking players with him and offloaded to Dane for the score.

All in all poor. Manor had the territory, but seemed lacking something. But credit to Barking; they absorbed plenty or pressure and responded with scores.

Pete Thomas, Gary Davies, Rob Stevens, Eugene Welch, John Makowski, John Phillipson, Ian Lovett, Barry, Jeff Bradley, Graham Sparrowhawk, Leung, Hollis Blake, Tom Howell, Seb, Chris.

Subs: Willie Nash, Steve Coggins, Gary Walker, Simon Bottomly, Paul Felton Dane, Kieron, Ian Welch + others...........

Correspondent: Matt Evans.