Bonus Ball…

Manchester’s lunchtime hospitality extended into the first minute of the game with a penalty edging Hoylake into a 0-3 lead. A chance to even things up was then lost, partly due to an elusive kicking tee which made a seemingly straightforward Manchester penalty just that bit more difficult with Matt Davies having to support the ball for the kicker as the referee glanced at his watch!

Davies was more traditionally involved minutes later when a thundering move started by James Brodie with Luke Tyrrell in support, fed Davies the ball for him to score in the corner. A training cone deputised for the tee this time to help Seb Lingwood with his difficult conversion. This he somehow managed, landing the ball on top of the crossbar on its way over to make it 7-3 after the opening salvos.

Both teams were up for a flowing game of rugby so it was ironic that the next score came from a short lineout which caught Manchester out as they defended wide only to see a try scored in the corner to restore the Hoylake lead at 7-8.

Hoylake’s second try came from some impressive play in midfield which wrong footed Manchester, creating some space in midfield. As Manchester recovered, it looked as if the move would be closed down but a kick through was chased and the sprint won by the Hoylake attacker, very well converted to close the first quarter at 7-15.

Harry Lewis, an Academy graduate making his home debut, was playing with confidence and a quickly taken penalty from him soon took Manchester back into the visitors’ 22. With Hoylake struggling to resist the attacks, two kickable penalties were rejected and the brave call was rewarded when the ball was worked across to James Collinson to put Manchester right back into the game at 12-15.

All the good work was almost immediately undone when Hoylake replied by return with Manchester caught napping so that the gap was restored at 12-20 on the half hour. Things then looked ominous when a bonus point try was scored by the visitors, partly thanks to a lucky bounce from a Manchester clearance, but with fifty metres still to run, all credit has to be given to Hoylake for making the score, converted to a 12-27 half time lead.

The second half started brightly for Manchester as Luke Tyrrell grabbed a first minute try to narrow the deficit to 17-27. A shower of hailstones made life difficult on the pitch as well as uncomfortable for the supporters, so that an untidy period of play untypical of the first half was played out.

From this unsatisfactory phase however came Manchester’s own bonus point try as Lingwood’s sliced kick landed in the hands of Larry Ncube on the left wing who was taken a little less by surprise than the Hoylake defence. With support runners Davies and then Rob Chance on hand, a fortunate try to make it a very close 22-27 was claimed with half an hour still to play.

With the bonus points already secured by both sides but with Hoylake even more desperate for the match points, it was inevitable that the visitors would now try to close the game down and they certainly held firm. For 20 minutes, Manchester had the best of the game but without really threatening the Hoylake line and rarely even in their 22. It then seemed that Hoylake got their second wind and to be fair, they then looked the side more likely to score again. The home defence was also solid however, although more uncomfortably close to their line than Hoylake had had to cope with.

Manchester knew that a share of the points at least was always on the cards, Hoylake knew that nothing less than a win was good enough for their league survival hopes. The tension didn’t help the game as a spectacle however, so that the final 30 finished scoreless, as defence snuffed out attack.

The away win was eventually celebrated, although it seemed as if it had been ground out despite the bonus point try fest of the first half. Once again Manchester gave themselves too much to do and came up just short, much to the relief of the Hoylake faithful whose unlikely survival hopes still remain intact with one game to play.