3rd XV
Matches
Sat 05 Mar 2016  ·  Division 2
Eton Manor RFC
3rd XV
Tries: F Nel, H Welsman-Worth, B Ward, T Howell, V Berhonnet, N Morris, L Laurence (2)Conversions: B Cotton (3), V Berhonnet (2)
50
10
Southend III
Terrific Thirds win in the sleet

Terrific Thirds win in the sleet

Thomas Winkworth8 Mar 2016 - 08:26
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In near Arctic conditions Manor 3s run in a big win!

Eton Manor 3s V Southend 3s

With the business end of the season approaching Manor had their last league home game against Southend 3s, who like Manor find themselves a third team in a league full of good second teams. In the week leading up to the game Manor found themselves down many of their core of their team with Riaan, Tony Armstrong and Me injured, Macer unavailable and David and David in the backs having to work. It didn’t help matters that Franny and Sean both were due to be stuck at work but lady luck smiled on Manor and the two large South African back row forwards made it to the game in time. Also making a return after a year out injured was another giant South african in Stefan and well travelled frenchman, Vincent.

Manor all arrived in good time except for Young Luke whose version of running 5 minutes late seemed to be missing a 0 to it. Manor got out very, very, very early and started a warm up with everyone keeping their serious heads on. With Riaan and Tony out manor were missing their main line out jumper and thrower so the forwards trotted off for bit of rejigging in the lineout and Cushy took the backs off to throw a ball around. The Game kicked off and Manor had the wind in the first half. For some odd reason Manor decided to let the ball bounce then knock it on so the game properly started with a scrum (quite apt considering how many of these we had today). The game then stayed in the middle of the pitch until Cushy found Southend’s weak link in their fly half who wasn’t keen on tackling and went straight through however the move broke to nothing. After a good snipe down the blindside Tharbish caught a stray boot and I entered the fray as emergency sub in the unfamiliar position of scrum half. Cushy seemed delighted at the prospect of my passing. However A good break down the blind from Franny and quick hands by me put Tom H away who was tackled in the 22. A poor line out from Southend fell straight into the hands of Franny who barrelled his way over to score the first try which was converted by Brad. Manor must have decided that this would be easy and promptly fell asleep which resulted in Southend winning a penalty and then bashing away up the middle before going wide to level the score.

Some harsh words from Cushy woke everyone up and Tharbish passed his maths test on the sidelines and was back on again. Manor kicked off and Sean did something or other which the ref didn’t like and Sean got himself binned early for talking back to the ref and showing a great example to everyone younger than him (the whole team). Manor however picked up their game and a good break from Manor resulted in excellent support play by young second row Harold who was on hand to score his first senior try under the posts. He celebrated this momentous occasion by drinking like a fish and having a nose bleed! Manor then turned it on a bit and Ben cut a brilliant line of Cushy through and ran from halfway to score an excellent try after rounding the full back. The ref commented to me at this point that we seemed to play better a man down and that maybe we should adopt it in the future. Sean made his return and One of the gingers decided to show how hard he was and give himself a nose bleed after a fracas with Southend’s Overly Muscular Flanker. Towards the end of the half Manor scored again with a nice floated pass from Brad to put Vincent in space who released tom Howell inside his own half. Then, showing the pace of a young buck Tom ran in charging though the full back to score a fine try. Manor continued to press and Cushy gave Sean a short pass to crashover the line however in one of the funniest moments in third team history the South african was stripped on the ball whilst trying to have one of his customary wrestling matches whilst trying to put the ball down.

At half time Manor led 26-5 and knew the wind in the second half could make a difference so they would have to be on the ball from the off. Tinky and Luke reinforced the pack who had been struggling in the lineout. The two subs made an instant impact in the lineout and scrum with Manor taking the upper hand in both of these. Manor played some good rugby however started to fall foul of the refs whistle. 10 minutes into the half saw some changes to the backs with Stefan and debutant Michael coming on. From the next scrum Stefan switched with Cushy at pace and charged through the would be tacklers to make a 60m break. This seemed to encourage the South African duo of Sean and Franny to do similar and both made some good carries.

As the second half grew on the weather grew worse and it started to sleet heavily. Some of the backs decided to try and play a new version of rugby with their hands in their pockets. Some good rugby from Manor resulted in Vincent going over in the corner with a smartly taken try before an excellent chip from Bill to his twin brother Nick who caught it on the run to sprint in under the posts for an excellent try. Bill or was it Nick (I can’t tell) decided to do the conversion after Vincent was at the other end of the pitch and managed to miss it in front of the posts! The next score went to Manor with the young prop Luke, who had was having an excellent day in the scrum, running in from close range. Southend didn’t give up though and kept trying to break through the manor defence. Some poor ball control allowed Southend to kick the ball through and a good chase from the Southend player resulted in a Southend try. Manor finished the half with a Luke who took the ball into the southend forwards and was supported by Harold before Luke unknown to everyone escaped and run under the posts for the final try. The ref blew the final whistle and both teams ran faster than they did in the game to get inside and get warm! Cushy then spent the next few minutes have a right old moan about someone nicking his t shirt, blaming everyone for taking it before I noticed that it was still inside his soaking wet top as he had decided to give himself an extra layer and make his already tight top even tighter. Luckily we had a clean sub top and the clubhouse breathed a sigh of relief that cushy wouldn’t have to walk around topless.

Final score Manor 3s 50-10 Southend 3s.

A great performance from Manor with every player putting out excellent performances. Worthy mentions for me go to; Luke and his second half impact, Franny who carried hard all game and had a big game as usual, Boshoff and Bill who tackled everything, Tharbish at scrum half who distributed well and made some good breaks and Ben in the centres who hit some great lines. However this week my man of the match goes to Cushy who controlled the game perfectly and put players in gaps all the time whilst putting in some strong hits.

A week off next week before Manor take on South Woodham Ferrers away on the 19th.

Match details

Match date

Sat 05 Mar 2016

Kickoff

15:00

Competition

Division 2
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

First XV Sponsor - White Skips Hire Ltd
1st Team Sponsor - Essex Security
Club Sponsor - Edwards Duthie Solcitors
1st team sponsor - Austin-Chapel LLP
Mens Shorts Sponsor - Macai
1st Team Sponsor - 1st Event Luxury Travel
1st Team Sponsor - Petty Son & Prestwich
3rd Team Sponsor - South East Secondary Glazing
Stand Sponsor - Brownes
Board - Thameside Roofing Ltd
RFU Member Club - Accredited RFU Club