Manchester Take The Honours in Battle of Grove Park

A chilly Saturday afternoon saw Manchester welcome Dukinfield RUFC to Grove Park in one of the most eagerly anticipated cup games of the last decade! With 9 former Tigers players recently signing for the Cheadle club, the bragging rights for the winners of this fixture probably outweighed the more important point of progressing to the 3rd round!

10 of the regular squad were unavailable due to international duty, injury and holidays, so Manchester took the opportunity to field a team consisting of new comers, youth and the ‘well’ seasoned. The biggest challenge on the day would therefore be if the starting XV could gel on the pitch. The squad’s preference was to play on the stadium pitch in order to stretch the opposition but the recent weather meant that the cross-pitch was the only option and the pre-match thought was that this would benefit the larger Dukinfield pack.

With equal numbers of youth and experience sharing the same dressing room, it was obvious that a debate would ensue as to the choice of the pre-match music. After a short discussion, youth won when it was realised by the seasoned players that the changing room ‘juke box’ didn’t have a ‘Record Player’. Bring back vinyl!

With the squad pumped up to the music of ‘Jazzie Jamie’ (or something like that); it was onto the field for the pre-match warm up.Up front, the experienced Rick Carr at tight, the ever improving Ste Parker at hooker and Adrian at loose. The second row saw Meat & Potato Pie and Dave Arnold in the engine room and a back row consisting of Tom, Muzz and Jeff Upton. Mad Malc and James Chidgey combined as halfbacks, with Jake Goodier getting his first start at inside centre. Returning former colt Will Inglis made his long awaited return to Grove Park after an 11th hour call from Richardson at outside centre. The three quarters line up saw the tricky trio of grumpy Josh and smiley Dan starting on the wings, with enthusiastic Ant taking the 15 shirt.

Playing into the sun, Manchester started well and took the game to Dukinfield with some aggressive runs from Big Phil, Muzz and Dave Arnold. Defensively, the home team set out their stall immediately with some aggressive tackling but lack of familiarity amongst the players, meant that the defensive work around the breakdowns was not always well organised. When Dukinfield did try to keep the ball tight, the presence of Tom, Muzz and Jeff Upton at the breakdowns often resulted in turnover ball for Manchester. In the backs, Manchester’s lack of experience in certain positions showed as the running lines often went wide rather than direct. However, the backs’ determination to tackle anything or anyone and to cover any errors, is well worthy of a mention. After 30 mins, neither team was able to totally dominate and the game became an evenly fought contest.

Manchester eventually broke the deadlock following a converted penalty kick from Ant after another infringement from Dukinfields’ number 20, Muskie.

With the game progressing into a close quarter’s battle, tempers began to fray; apparently it all started when Big Phil accused the Dukinfield shirt design of being so last season and the Dukinfield scrum half informing Manchester’s Rick Carr that his bum looked big in those shorts! Somehow this resulted in Muzz being sin binned and the official having strong words with both captains.

With Muzz off to read the latest edition of ‘Nuts’ for 10 minutes, Dukinfield capitalised and despite some impressive tackling by Manchester following a 5 yard penalty, the away team ran in a try and conversion after a quick recycle gave them an overlap. With Muzz returning, the game again settled into an evenly fought contest once again. However, it was Manchester that finished the half stronger after two late attacks into the opposition 22 nearly resulted in the home team breaking through, but for the final pass.

Half time: Manchester 3 v 7 Dukinfield

The half time team talk focused on Manchester needing to pick up the intensity and to expand their approach in attack. On the narrow cross pitch this would prove to be difficult but the red and whites knew that that any opportunity had to be taken to avoid the Tameside team playing a forwards game.

The second half started with Titch moving to scrum half to replace the injured Barratt, Ant stepping in at fly half and former Dukinfield player Martin ‘the silver fox’ Gallifant making his debut for the Grove Park outfit.

The second 40 also started with Dukinfield down to 14 players due to the official issuing a yellow card at the half way point. Manchester again took the game to Dukinfield and despite having a smaller pack, were able to push Dukinfield back into their own half for long periods. Nevertheless, Dukinfield continued to defend well and kept the ball tight wherever possible whilst Manchester in contrast, refused to be frustrated and showed composure in their approach to finding the breakthrough.

With 20 mins remaining, the home team’s patience eventually paid off when Tom picked from the back of a ruck and broke through two tackles to score under the posts. Ant converted and Manchester lead 10 v 7. With 15 minutes remaining, Manchester were awarded an opportunity to extend their lead through a penalty kick 30 yards out, only for Ant to strike the posts!

Further handbags and skulduggery from both teams resulted in another yellow card for Dukinfield and with 5 minutes remaining more pressure from the home team saw them celebrating a further try, only for the official to rule in favour of a line out, 5 yards out. Manchester failed to capitalise and one last push from Dukinfield saw the away team being awarded two penalties, both of which went wide. With the game still in the balance, Manchester attacked again but a turnover resulted in a long clearance kick which finally rolled out of play on Manchester's 22. Dukinfield won the line out but failed to secure the ball and one last effort from the captain of the day Tom, saw the young back row sticking his head where no else dared to turn over the ball. With Titch clearing from the base of the ruck, the ref blew for full time to take Manchester into the 3rd round of the cup in their first full year back in the league.

For the neutral, the game had been a good old fashioned battle between two sets of forwards that refused to surrender. Manchester had been frustrated by the lack of opportunities to get the ball wide on the narrow pitch but had shown that they could compete with the bigger pack in both aggression and skill on the day. Defensively Manchester were sound throughout the game and once again, the pack was strong in the scrum and continue to progress this part of their game. The biggest improvement in Manchester’s game was at the line out and this undoubtedly contributed to the win.

All gave 110% on the day, even Rodger as the unused sub and no doubt some of the more experienced players were missed. However, the gritty performance from this squad will prove to be invaluable in terms of understanding how to dig out a victory for Manchester RUFC generally.

For Dukinfield, defeat was undoubtedly painful but credit has to be given to the Tameside team for their performance on the day and making the win difficult for Manchester.

In the changing rooms after the game, the iPod resurfaced and the young and old discussed whether Brylcreem or shock waves hair gel was the best hair product. Many of the over 35’s realised that hair products were in fact a distant memory! Rick ‘the hyena’ Carr deliberated on the colour of his suit for the final and there was even a rumour that young Josh had finally raised a smile. Meanwhile, Big Phil was caught leaving Grove Park early without a pint after hearing that the Pies at Morrison’s had been reduced.

Manchester return to league duty next week against Whitchurch

Next Game: 08th Dec - Home v Whitchurch

Man of the match: Has to be shared between the experienced Tom and the inexperienced Steve Parker for stepping up again as hooker and putting in a decent performance.

Unimportant Statistic – another win for Manchester wearing the red and white strips – is this the lucky kit!

Best hyena impressions of the day: – A closely fought contest between the giggling Adrian and the chuckling Rick Carr!