Jumbo leads a 13 man 3rd team to victory

Ilford 2s v Eton Manor 3s

A depleted manor 3rd team took the quick ride to Ilford for a local derby and friendly. The team travelled with 1 back row forward (playing out of position) and a bare 3 front row. Sadly Anthony the Hooker offended Parcel force who drove into his car which resulted in Anthony not being able to make kick off.

Manor started with 14 players with Herbie playing his first game since god knows when and numerous players playing out of position including Little John Keen at hooker. For weeks Little Keeny has been asking to play in the forwards and perhaps was spurred on by his dad shouting out from the sidelines “come on balsawood”. Elsewhere tinky took over pack leader as I had to play 10 again. With no braai master Werner around warm up duties fell to one of the old heads (keeny) to do. As usual I looked around to see what Sweet Pete was up to and he was nowhere to be seen (rumour has it he was admiring himself with his new found love…profit jersays).

The game started and Manor started poorly struggling to hold onto procession through some admittedly poor kicking by myself. Herbie showed his south African side with a few blind side big tackles before strolling round the pitchIlford eventually used their field position to score a good try through numerous pick and goes. At that Moment Harry Reynalds turned up to play his first game of senior rugby in the back row. Sadly 2 minutes after that I had to go off injured reducing us back down to 14 players. Manor started to play some better rugby and got some possession and position however the wet weather resulted in passes being forced. Eventually Manor put in a big scrum and Jumbo charged through however his grounding of the ball was not felt to be enough by the referee and Ilford kept their lead.

Half time appeared and Laurence managed to injure himself by turning his ankle before Herbie decide his luong wouldn’t survive running round any more and found help with a can of beer! Ilford Generously agreed to put 12 v 12 and this immediately helped manor gain control of the game. Some scrappy and interesting play resulted in Ilford losing focus and Jumbo ran in two excellent tries (grounded properly) and Charlie wood on his debut scored from his 22 with a lovely show and go.

Final score Ilford 2s 5- 17 Manor 3s

A good test for the Manor players which allowed us to get our rustiness out of our system before next weeks league clash with harlow. Manor never really got out of second gear but did make a great comeback with Tinky, Ben, Sweet Pete and Keeny leading the team well.

Some great performances to chose from including; good work from debut Harry R, Constant attacking skills shown from Ginger Billy, Great tackling from Keeny, Ant and luc and finally good carrying from tinky. However the man of the match in my eyes was Jumbo who tore up the pitch with numerous powerful runs and some excellent tackling.

Humorous incidents included Anthony making it 2 minutes before the final whistle, Jumbo giving tinky a new nickname….”double o tink” and Ben ward looking in horror as Woody offered him the 10 position. Makowski moment I gave to myself for only lasting 15 minutes…

Next week manor 3s take on harlow away in a crucial league match!