With a decent wind behind them it wasn’t long before Bowdon declared their hand and opted to kick and chase. Manchester were slow to react and were penalised as they illegally tried to regroup. With advantage being played, a neat drop goal opened the scoring (3-0).
Alarm bells started to ring when a few minutes later a hopeful kick through by Bowdon was not dealt with, allowing the loose ball to be simply dribbled on and touched down as Manchester’s defence watched an 8-0 gap open in as many minutes.

Bowdon’s large pack were no match for Manchester and an attacking scrum in the 22 saw the home pack retreating at a rate of knots. The resulting penalty was turned down and a scrum opted for. When the offence was repeated, discretion proved the better part of valour and the points were gratefully taken (8-3). A penalty award for no obvious reason cancelled Manchester’s score, as a well struck kick from 40 metres out sailed between the uprights (11-3).

After an indifferent first quarter, Manchester then decided to start playing. With Bowdon’s scrum wrecked, Doug Day was the beneficiary from a good platform that allowed him to run wide before sprinting along the touchline to make it 11-8 with a touchdown in the corner.

Bowdon continued to benefit from the wind as they kicked from hand and then more successfully from a place kick that stretched their lead back to 14-8.

Fortunately as it turned out, the first half elements restricted Manchester to keeping the ball in hand, a strength that began to turn the game. Spreading the ball wide to Dafydd Evans, a hapless defence was shredded for a memorable converted try which took Manchester into the break with a slender 14-15 lead. A late yellow card for Bowdon for dangerous play meant that there would also be a numerical advantage at the restart.

An untidy opening few minutes was made more disappointing when an interception try allowed Bowdon to open the scoring so the that their sin bin period ended with them back ahead at 21-15.

As is the way of these things, the wind had now blown itself out so that the first half advantage did not swing Manchester’s way. However another dangerous tackle saw Bowdon back down to fourteen men and this time the opportunity was taken. A strong attack saw Manchester pressing the Bowdon line, desperately defended but from a blatant offside position. With a penalty coming their way, Manchester slickly moved the ball along the Bowdon try line to Matt Davies. From closer to the line than he is used to, a lot of work had to be done to beat the defence but the winger somehow twisted and squirmed through so that the deficit was back to a single point at 21-20 with 20 minutes to play.

Bowdon’s indiscipline continued and yet another dangerous tackle saw the sin bin doubled and, of course, the gaps began to appear. Evans was having a stormer of a game at centre linking well with Day outside him. The combination soon unlocked the stretched defence and Day was back in the corner to put Manchester in front 21-25.

With quarter of an hour to go and confidence now high, the visitors began to cut loose and whether Bowdon had 13, 14 or 15 players on the pitch, they could not cope with Manchester’s back play. The Evans and Day combination were strong enough but when Davies came in from his wing to support, a score was inevitable with clear daylight between the teams now at 21-32.

Brian Ndlovu had already made some bullocking runs but when the defending full back was confronted with him chasing after a loose ball, it was understandable when he chose to shepherd the ball into touch rather than take his chances against the charging No 8. The territory was established however so that the backs could now take over, effectively doing so and quickly notching the score up to 21-37 with five minutes to go.

Bowdon had looked ragged for half an hour by now but to their credit decided to try to salvage some pride and maybe an unlikely bonus point. The final few minutes was their only period of sustained pressure and gave Manchester a useful workout as they manfully defended their line. A couple of penalties had Manchester on the back foot for the first time since the start of the match, so that a consolation try for Bowdon’s late effort made for a more respectable final score of 28-37. With no time to restart however, it was Manchester that took all the spoils with a second bonus point win to kick off the season.