Under 13s
Matches
Sun 27 Feb 2011
Leigh
0
30
Manchester Rugby Club
Under 13s
Barclays Lancashire Cup

Barclays Lancashire Cup

Richard McCreath3 Mar 2011 - 18:01
Share via
FacebookTwitter
https://www.manchesterrugby.co

Did Manchester mangae to qualify? You bet they did! Thankyou fro the report Frank.

Barclays Lancashire Cup - Third Phase Games
Leigh U11's 0 vs. Manchester U11's 42

Victory over Leigh was the only result that would guarantee qualification for Finals Day

The lads were locked away in dressing room no 3, being 'coached' by Terry, Maurice, Mark and Richard. Rather than emerging like lions going into the arena they trudged out looking like they had just been given extra homework - what on earth had the coaches said to them ?

No need to worry - the memory of January's narrow loss to Leigh was clearly burning in their memory - start on the front foot.... and they did! Right from the off Manchester took the play to Leigh with surge upon surge of forward power play. We won all the scrums, we won all the lineout’s, we nullified the big guy ...... well Max did!! The last time I saw as good a rolling maul was by the All Blacks, but Manchester were looking like them ..... 'black' that is, but still the pressure kept coming - Ciaran piled over, Will Marsden couldn't wait for the 'rolling' bit of the maul and powered over by himself. The forwards were grafting and playing like a team and it was a fantastic sight. With territorial advantage established we were able to suck in the Leigh defenders who were trying to keep the Manchester forwards at bay. This allowed the backs to pick off possession and run in tries down the flanks - Tom Walsh was just a blur as he picked out of a loose maul and sped off down the wing, not once but twice. In the second half we did what we normally DON'T do, which was keep our foot on the gas. I don't remember one occasion in the whole game where Leigh seriously threatened our line. Patrick and Tom J put in great positional kicks out of hand to send us down field when danger threatened. On all of these occasions we got to the man with the ball quickly - tackled him, regained possession and retook the advantage. Will Cahill did a one man cross between Willie John McBride and Brian O'Driscoll (one for Maurice there!!) running down the man, tackling him, setting the ruck, getting up, picking the ball up and going over to score - brilliant! Not content with his 2 tries, Tom Walsh finished off another passing move by going over in the corner. In amidst all the quality tries Patrick slotted ALL 6 conversions, and was also commended by the ref for not retaliating to a punch thrown at him, well done Pat. There you have it - best performance of the season against a very, very good team. My nominations for 'do I need a shower Mum'? were Max, Will Cahill and Tom Walsh.

Barclays Lancashire Cup - Third Phase Game
MV Trafford U11's 0 vs. Manchester U11's 33

Straight on after the Leigh game, we had to keep the momentum up. The coaches rang the changes in the forwards - they had to as those lads had given everything, so how would the new batch measure up? Exactly the same! Right from the off we were up onto the opposition and Charlie took command, bringing us right up to the line. we couldn't get the ball down, though, and the pressure was relieved. Fair play to Trafford, they were fresh and they used that to their advantage - spinning the ball out wide and moving into Manchester territory. We had a spell of defending to do, but the lads were up to the job. Eventually the pressure produced a score with Matt B weaving his way through a number of tackles before breaking through the back line and running the ball in. More forward pressure brought another try, this time from Max, and Ciaran weighed in with a typical aggressive run and score. We almost conceded in the corner but great defensive work held the ball and player 'up' so no try. What was probably the tackle of the day was then made by the Trafford full back on Tom Walsh - who was away down the wing like a leopard. He was feet from the line when the full back got across and tackled him - great save. It was ok, though, because from the resulting set play Sam B scored. Will Cahill came back on to seal the scoring with the last try - Pat, Tom J and Dan W slotted conversions and that was that - what a great couple of games - keep it up lads.

Match details

Match date

Sun 27 Feb 2011

Kickoff

12:00
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Main Club Sponsor - Artisan Tiles
Club Sponsor - Cheadle Hulme School