Anselmians Answer Back...

An early try (0-5) should really have settled any nerves for a Manchester side looking to carry their winning momentum into the Christmas break. The opening salvos soon saw this pegged back to 3-5 as Anselmians slotted a penalty in reply.

Manchester’s intent and ability was demonstrated by a searing run to the line by Dean Hogg from the ten metre line. Hogg’s chosen route was the proverbial knife through butter to dab down under the posts for Richard McCartney to convert to 3-12.

Manchester remained in control of the game for long periods but some careless handling halted any meaningful progress. When Anselmians were shown a yellow card for repeated infringements, it seemed likely that the visitors would take this as their cue to get the scoreboard ticking over. The simple three points were turned down but the more ambitious tap-and-go came to nothing. There followed several minutes of good territory but the depleted home defence dug in and frustrated 15-man Manchester for the duration of the sin binning.

It wasn’t until five minutes to half time that the Anselmians defence was finally breached again when Richard McCartney fed out to Anthony Tiatia who made good progress before freeing up Doug Day on the wing to make it 3-17.

Anselmians were straight back at Manchester and closed the half strong in attack after their earlier defensive efforts. A late try meant that the game was still very much in doubt at the break at 10-17.

A strong restart by the visitors saw Tom Fantom stopped just short of the line but the referee was unhappy with the defensive play and awarded a penalty in front of the posts. Discretion proved the better part of valour this time and a McCartney kick edged Manchester on to 10-20.

With the cushion of a couple of scores and three tries already in the bag, the travelling support then waited for Manchester to secure the bonus point that seemed sure to come. Anselmians however had other ideas and not only resisted but set about chasing Manchester’s score. As the third quarter ended, it was worryingly clear that the home side were having the better of the second half, even (unwisely) turning down a kickable penalty in favour of chasing a further try.

With ten minutes to go, the unlikely scenario was that Anselmians were camped on Manchester’s line, having spent the last 20 minutes or so in Manchester’s half and frequently in their 22. The fact that the defence did not crack was a testimony to Manchester’s adaptability, as the attacking game that they must have expected needed to switch to a stubborn defence.

Against the run of play, a long kick to escape the 22 travelled well and was chased hard by a Manchester pair to pressurise the defender who had to track back. Trapping him behind his line, a five metre scrum resulted and finally, that bonus point try was registered as Luke Tyrrell forced himself over the line, at the same time opening a far more comfortable 10-27 gap.

With the pressure now off in every sense, Manchester then switched to attack mode and dominated the remaining minutes of the game. A second try from Day, well converted by the try scorer to 10-34, achieved something more like the result that Manchester had aimed for.

As the mist descended, the game was well wrapped up with a similar try to that pressure relieving fourth try from Tyrrell. A scrum in from of the posts was chosen when the referee signalled a penalty and, with a pick up from the base, Tyrrell again proved unstoppable to close the match out at 10-41 once Day had added the extras.