The opening exchanges saw loose play from both sides, maybe a legacy of the festive break. Manchester were on the scoreboard after 10 minutes with a Doug Day penalty but the first quarter was reached following a typical Luke Tyrrell strong run down the wing with some tame tackling allowing Tyrrell to cut back in to score under the posts, duly converted to 10-0.

The momentum was already with the home side and a quick tap penalty allowed Harry Noar to touch down again under the posts to open up a commanding 17-0 gap. On the half hour mark, Tyrrell crossed the line for his second and a very nice 22-0 lead was taken to the break. To be fair, Medics were finally settling as the first period ended but much damage had already been done.

Buoyed by a strong finish to the first half, Medics started the second well but any hopes of a comeback were dashed by the bonus point try being scored within ten minutes. Manchester wrecked a defensive scrum to such an extent that Tom Fantom was able to pounce on the loose ball from behind the retreating pack to make it 29-0 with half an hour to play.

The home forwards were now dominating their opposite numbers and once territory was established, it was just a case of keeping control until the defence buckled. Brian Ndlovu was the carrier for a workmanlike pushover try that made it 34-0 entering the last quarter.

Ironically this proved to be Medics best period of the game with some slick passing reminiscent of the away fixture moving them into Manchester’s 22. With Manchester caught offside a long advantage was played with little progress made. When the referee finally came to that conclusion a sprint back in field to where the offence was signalled saw a quick tap-and-go from Medics. Manchester were stretched from their defence of the advantage and had no time to reset allowing the visitors to gratefully grab their consolation try (34-5) with ten minutes remaining.

With the Medics scrum well beaten by now it was almost academic who was given the put in. A series of scrums in the visitors’ 22 had the opposition front row in all sorts of trouble. As another push moved relentlessly towards the try line, the referee cruelly denied (!) a second Ndlovu try by awarding a penalty try that closed the scoring at a satisfying 41-5.

This result was a marked improvement on the reverse fixture and a great start to the 2015 campaign.