In contrast to last week the weather was actually nice and mild, so no question whether the match was on or off. As Stanford warmed up the Manor parents noticed just how physically large they were. Each of their kids were at least 2 inches taller and bigger.

Manor won the toss and chose to tactically play into the strong wind for the first half. Stanford kicked off and immediately put Manor under pressure. In fact for the first 10-15 minutes Manor didn’t even get out of their half. As soon as it looked like Manor were about to break out repeated infringements meant Stanford were constantly being awarded penalties which kept the pressure on Manor. Thankfully the boys tackling was superb and stopped every Stanford attack. Finally Anthony made a break away from the base of the scrum and breaking a number of tackles. Once tackled Anthony made a quick off load to Adam who then ran round the outside of Stanford’s remaining players to score Manor’s first try right under the posts. Ollie finished off the try with a conversion (7-0 to Manor).

Stanford came right back, and once again put Manor under pressure. Penalties by Manor once again kept the pressure on their defense but once again Manor did not let Stanford cross the line. The first half was finished off by Anthony making one of his strong runs, going left and then right and finally scoring a try, which again was converted by Ollie (14-0 to Manor).

Manor now had the wind in their favor for the second half. The Manor pack had already shown that their scrummaging was better in the first half, but second half they were now dominating the scrum winning numerous scrums against the head. With the forwards now dominating up front, the backs were getting much more ball. This was rewarded by a quick try by Adam (19-0 to Manor). Anthony made another great break away from the scrum, quick ball out to the wing saw Red score his first manor try (24-0 to Manor). The game was now opening up and Manor’s pace was beginning to show. Ollie made a great run, breaking several tackles to score manor’s 5th try, the extra 2 points were converted by Jack (31-0 to Manor). The last try of the match went to the forwards with Jack crossing the line (36-0 to Manor). Once again numerous penalties against Manor meant them defending their line for the last 5 minutes, but as before their defense was solid and despite numerous attacks the boys did not allow Stanford to score.

A great display by all the team. Man of the match is not my call, it’s the coaches, but if I were a coach I awarded it to all the forwards who dominated a much bigger pack and won so much ball that the backs could really attack Stanford.

After the early worrying moments a good result in the end, hopefully the same again next week in their league match against Woodford (another must win match).

By Gary Mountford - EMRFC Snr Rugby Correspondent.