Great balls of fire!

Well, got home after the games and the song that kept going through my head was “I’m on fire” by Kasabian. Not because I had the heater in the car turned up high or was having a “tropical moment”, (or even because Simon had his shorts on again!) but because our boys were (on fire) today!

What fab rugby!

It was so fast that I missed significant chunks and so will be deferring to Statto at many junctures in this report.

Sitting here now with a G&T and reflecting on the games, it all seems a bit of a blur (although that could be the G&T).

Hi Steph, I don’t think it’s just the grain alcohol redistilled with juniper berries for its natural oils such as terpinene, cymene and terpinen-4-ol, talking. As I write this on the day millions of Christians are remembering the martyrdom of St Pancake of Alexandria, who was stuffed full of cheese, shallow fried and repeatedly thrown into the air around 530 AD, brief recollections of darting runs, full-bloodied tackles and the ball zipping across the pitch propelled by a flurry of fast hands all merge into one great memory for me too.

Sunday 19 February 2012. A day of destiny. Anxious for omens the night before, our coaches consulted Manchester U11s personal Astrologer who turned his tired, rheumy eyes to the heavens and proclaimed “Mars and Venus are heading for confrontation in the constellation of Ursa Major. For God’s sake run, we’re all doomed. Sorry, I seem to have overreacted there a bit. It’s more of a metaphorical thing, I suspect.” Once again he was of no help whatsoever and they left that place questioning, not for the first time this season, the wisdom in dispensing with the services of the teams’ Necromancer. Anywho, back to you Steph, as I go in search of a Yoghurt that’s not lethally out of date, or raspberry.

Thanks Statto, Was it me on the G&T or was your yoghurt fermenting??!!

First up were our boys vs Sedgeley Park

As I said, the detail is lost on me but the passing along the line was there for all to see – the ball was zigging and even zagging backwards and forwards (well, side to side really) across the pitch. Not only that, but the lads defended well with some great tackling which held Sedgeley Park back.

We had two tries which were converted. The first one came soon after the Sedgeley Park kick off. There was a turnover at a ruck and the the ball was passed sharply across the field for the try scorer who saw the line and dashed over. The second try was much the same as the first. After some great setting up work at the ruck the ball was again passed smartly across the pitch, (which is a wonderful feature of the team’s play this year. Manchester have always been known as a tough, aggressive tackling side and to see them add this to their game is very encouraging) the ball eventually finding it’s way into the hands of the onrushing scorer who, although he found his way blocked by Sedgeley Park players managed to jinx his way over the line. Both tries were converted. Sedgeley Park then came back at Manchester, keeping the pressure on and were deservedly rewarded with a try for their efforts.

The game at this point could have gone either way but it was Manchester who snatched the next try when the ball popped out from under a pile of lads in the scrum and scrambled over the try line. The resulting kick was again well converted.

There was just time for one more try when the Manchester pack piled into a ruck and with great strength won the ball feeding it out for a waiting Manchester team mate to sprint down the touchline and score. Once again the conversion was made.

The first half finished 4 -1 to Manchester.

The half time whistle blew and the teams came off to thunderous applause from the watching implausibility of Manchester’s Rugby Mums Ultras ( for goodness sake Statto – we are not Gnu’s!! Ladies, if you google this collective noun you will see that we have now become gnus rather than buffalo as we were described in the last match report!). They had spent the whole of the first period wildly cheering on the boys and, for once, hadn’t disgraced themselves. Overall, no one died, the stadium wasn’t razed to the ground and no animals or children (under the age of 15) were harmed in the half-time interval, so great work ladies!

The second half went well with another 2 tries (1 conversion) for Manchester, again the result of great passing. The fifth try began with a Sedgeley Park player tackled in possession and the ball won from the resulting ruck. It was passed across the pitch quickly for the try scorer to force his way over the line after a short run. The last try of the game came after another turn over at a ruck and with a few deft passes was ran over the try line. The conversion was again made.

Throughout Sedgeley Park kept the pressure on but good defending stopped them scoring.

Statistically, we were awarded two scrums and won them both, Sedgeley didn’t get one, we were also given two penalties, again to none for the opposition, and finally there were only two line outs, one to each team, which both conspired to lose! A new feature I’m field-testing at the moment is counting the number of turn overs at the ruck. Bearing in mind this was quite a high octane encounter I believe Manchester turned the ball over four times in the game to none by the opposition.

Final score: Manchester 40 - 7 Sedgeley Park

The next game was against Heaton Moor. Again, there was a try scored quickly from a turn over at a ruck which was converted. More tries followed in quick succession again with passing which put me in mind of the All Blacks - the ball barely seemed to touch their hands than it was passed. The second try was a fine solo effort, again with a successful conversion attempt. The boys were looking to pass when they got the ball and often managed to offload before they made contact with the opposition which resulted in more successful and speedy passing, leading to the third try, beginning at a Manchester lineout, the ball travelled across the park for the try scorer to race half the length of the pitch to score. Once again the conversion was superbly kicked over the posts.

The first half finished 3 - 0 to Manchester

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first. Manchester scored 2 tries fairly quickly. Try four saw the ball scrambled over the line after Manchester had won a Heaton Moor scrum, with the resulting conversion attempt sailing unerringly over the posts, the fence and onto the U7s pitch. Try five saw the ball fed sharply to an onrushing Manchester player from a penalty who ran through the Heaton Moor lines to score. Once again the kick interrupted what sounded like a fiercely competitive game of tag (but they always are against Macclesfield, at whatever age group - Quick note here, Manchester U7s are undefeated this season, another great success story for the club). Heaton Moor kept the pressure on and managed to comeback at Manchester but stout, determined, defensive work meant they were not able to get a try. Manchester responded and squeezed another try in, again winning a Heaton Moor scrum and forcing the ball over the line. The ball again finding it’s way over the fence accompanied by a chorus of apologies! Heaton Moor kept up the pressure and managed to turn the ball over at Manchester’s try line in the dying seconds of the game for a deserved consolation try.

The stats will be immortalised in the annals of history as: one lineout each both won by respective teams; no scrums to Manchester, five to Heaton Moor three of which were won by the great work put in once again by Manchester’s pack; one penalty to Manchester and three to the visitors. I counted two turn overs to Manchester an none to Heaton Moor.

Despite a good effort from Heaton Moor the final score was 42 – 7 to Manchester.

The final game was a friendly against Didsbury Toc H.

The boys were pretty pooped mentally as well as physically by then as they had just played some hard rugby against opposition who did not just sit back.

However, a sausage sandwich run meant that I missed the first and only try of the game so I will pass you over to Statto here for the details:

Thanks Steph. Not much to say, except it was a very even, well fought contest, and I for one would welcome a mornings’ set of games against Didsbury - I can’t believe we’ve never played them before. You really didn’t miss much as regards the try Steph! Manchester lost their lineout but piled in determinedly and through some good hard pressure managed to retrieve the ball. From the resulting melee of a ruck one opportunistic Manchester player managed to rat the ball and scramble between a forest of legs to score. Not pretty, but a try’s a try. The resulting conversion was duly converted.

Stats for the match show that we lost two of our three lineouts (an area we’ll no doubt address), but Didsbury lost one of their two. We won all our three scrums and two of the visitors three. We managed one turnover in this game that I caught - hopefully this new feature will be better refined as the season progresses and give some indication of the success of the pressure we apply to the opposition. Back to you Steph.

Overall a great day, smashing weather, pitch was not too muddy (so washing wasn’t too bad), and really lovely rugby. The boys all had a great warm down and some banter in the bar – a fitting end to the morning.