Douglas Day...

Douglas were quick out of the blocks and both defences had their hands full with the high tempo rugby. It was surprising that the first quarter closed pointless with a try chance each and 0-0 not reflecting the entertainment value.

Manchester started to dominate territory and eventually stretched the Douglas defence to breaking point, Rick Gosling going over in the corner (5-0) on 21 minutes. Sam Davis appeared on the wing doubled the score five minutes later, Doug Day hitting the upright with his conversion attempt (10-0).

After the tight first quarter, Manchester now had control. With Jake Stewart stealing lineouts and Dan Matthews on a mission every time he had the ball, Manchester were causing problems. A lineout in the visitors’ 22 was nicely set up for a catch & drive towards the line, Matthews peeling off at the right moment supported by Brian Ndlovu. With five minutes of the half to go, Manchester were suddenly 17-0 up, once Day added the extras.

The half finished with a bonus point in the bag with Manchester battering the line against a stubborn defence until a crack appeared for Anthony TiaTia to make the score a healthy 24-0 when the teams turned round.

The Douglas defence was as impressive as it was determined and refused to allow Manchester to extend their lead despite a quarter hour of relentless pressure. Just as it seems we were in for another entertaining but pointless quarter, a quick penalty by Day saw Manchester advance to the line with support from Stewart and James Brodie. Douglas were able to scramble back but not effectively so that a second TiaTia try and then a conversion by Day opened up a daunting 31-0 gap.

Still Douglas refused to lie down and their first attack of the half resulted in a neat try as they spun the ball wide, stretching over to get their campaign going at 31-5 on the hour mark.

Once again the floodgates had been opened so that minutes later Manchester turned down an easy three points to kick back into the 22. A tidy lineout was passed out and an alert Day spotted a gap in the defence to score and convert to 38-5.

To be fair, the scoreline didn’t fairly reflect Douglas’ effort which had made Manchester work equally hard to get into this position. The visitors ‘ determination to keep the ball in play was rewarded when a quick tap penalty caught Manchester unawares to close to a more respectable 38-12 with less than 10 minutes to play.

A latecomer would by now have assumed that Douglas were the team in the lead as they continued to finish strongly despite the match itself being a lost cause. With a few minutes remaining they even had a whiff of a bonus point try when a third score was made, again from a tap penalty, but this time deep in their own half. The deserved score made the final reckoning 38-19 with Manchester feeling a lot more settled after the two previous league defeats.