First game of the season for Manor 3s ends in a draw

Eton Manor 3s V South Woodham Ferrers 2s

In glorious sunshine Manor 3s took to the field to face old opponents South Woodham Ferrers. South Woodham turned up with a completely changed team from previous seasons bar one or two familiar faces. With numerous holidays and players attending world cup matches Manor fielded a much changed team however saw the long overdue returns of Mad Sean, Joe White, Tony Spurgeon and Tinky.
After a lackadaisical warm up (which included Daniel Robinson copying Charlie wood 2 years ago by getting injured in the warm up), Manor 3s surprisingly started the stronger with Tony Armstrong turning over the South Woodham ball to give Manor good field position. Manor then made the most of that position to put Mad Sean 5m out in front of the posts and he unsurprisingly charged over knocking would be tacklers at bay. Manor then continued their dominance repelling all South Woodham attacks with brutal defence. After some good play Elton found himself 5m out and charged through the would be tacklers to score Manor’s second try.

At halftime we were feeling confident and leading 12-3. We knew however that South Woodham would strike back with their superior organisation and fitness. As the second half started Manor went through injury after injury and change after change. South Woodham made the most of this and their flying Fijian full back stepped his way through the Manor defensive line to score a fine try. After this South Woodham continued to attack however fine defence kept them out. Manor then build up their second wind and charged up field with some powerful scrums. some good carries close to the try line helped manor into good position before Elton burrowed over for a second try.

South Woodham once again went up field but Manor responded well with good defence and worked the ball to the south woodham try line. After a good carry from Mad Sean, Smithy thought he had scored but the ref brought it back for a Manor 5m scrum. Manor bashed away at the try line but South Woodham turned it over and Manor conceded a penalty. Taking advantage of the Manor players who had as much energy as pensioners the South Woodham Fijian full back went on a mazy run and scored a try. A successful nervy conversion from the South Woodham kicker levelled the game. What said a lot about the Manor performance was the way in which South Woodham celebrated the draw as if they were Japanese (sorry Werner).

Overall it was a strong performance from manor despite the many regulars missing. Humorous moments included; Werner and Franny having a miserable afternoon as the Boks lost to Japan, Bobby in true moaning form, Joe White pleading to come off and being asked by me to do another 5 minutes more, Mad Sean deciding to spend a lot of time helping cover the wing or full-back positions, Aiden turning down food after the game and Jack White sitting down a player 3 times his body weight.

Man of the Match was a tight one with strong performances from; Spurg, Bob and Jack in the midfield, Mad Sean and Elton in the pack, the entire front row and ever young Tinky but my man of the match goes to Joe White who showed his class at 9 with an excellent performance!