Wilmslow visit Grove Park

Wilmslow visited Grove Park for the return fixture from earlier in the season. Recent weeks training has focussed on line speed, on field organisation and being better in the contact area. We split into 2 teams with a 9 aside on one pitch and 7aside mixed teams on the other. 5 Manchester players and the remaining 9 Wilmslow players. In the 9 aside game Manchester started very well. High levels of intensity and pressure produced Wilmslow errors. Manchester's expansive style moved the ball very well in attack and Manchester finished the first 10mins stint a well deserved 2-1 ahead with both tries coming from Harry. In the second 10 Wilmslow came back strongly and moved the ball into space well scoring 3 well worked tries. The final score finishing 2-4 in favour of our visitors.

We started the second game with most of the boys from the other game and the changes caused some confusion before the boys got back into the swing of the game. Charlie scored a fantastic try cutting through the middle and in the last 5 minutes Manchester kept the pressure on close to the Wilmslow line with multiple phases of attack, controlling and re-cycling the ball very well before Ben Wallace crashed over to score the final try of the game. Wilmslow had continued to move the ball well and score some good tries from playing good rugby. In the second game Wilmslow were again victorious 2-4.

In the smaller sided game the boys had a great time and lots of players got much more time on the ball. Luka, Max F, Henry, James Hargreaves and Cam all scored great tries and had lots of action.

Wilmslow are the best rugby playing side we have played this year. They move the ball better than any team we have played so far. As Manchester showed they are more than a match for Wilmslow and can easily match their opponents when they keep the tempo high. Ball control and offloading has greatly improved and with some stronger rucking we will start to control the breakdown much better. Well done boys.