The home side dominated from the off and the surprise was that it took quarter of an hour before the first points were chalked up, courtesy of a Luke Tyrrell try as backs and forwards linked well.

Bowdon enjoyed some territory after this score, even rejecting an easy penalty to kick to touch in the hope of a greater reward. By half time though, Manchester were well on top even if only the solitary score ahead at 7-0.

It felt as if Manchester were making a meal of this game now, with Bowdon’s attack very limited to battering ram tactics trying to punch a hole in the home defence. With no points resulting from this, the visitors finally made the scoreboard with a penalty to make it just a flattering 7-3 deficit early in the second half.

With half an hour to go, Tyrrell was over for the second time to make it 14-3 but Bowdon refused to be shaken off and were rewarded when a rare excursion moving the ball out wide, caught Manchester napping. The narrow 14-8 scoreline served to wake Manchester up, quickly restoring the gap to 21-8 when Brian Ndlovu forced his way over on the hour mark.

With Manchester now threatening to kick on, a loose pass almost immediately let beleaguered Bowdon back into the game with an interception try and it was back to 21-15!

Some daylight finally appeared at 28-15 with 10 minutes to go, when the four-try bonus point was secured. With the job done (finally!), it was almost showboating by Day when posts were signalled after a late penalty to make it five kicks out of five, and ultimately a healthy looking 31-15 final score.