Could Manchester finish their season strongly??

Our chief statistician away and the honours are left to me to put down a few words about our last fixture of the 2012/3 season. A fixture away against Widnes, a club that are always a pleasure to visit for both the boys and the coaches.
Having asked all to be there early, there were only two late comers, that being Mark and myself along with Matt and Luke, numbers were not an issue and though we have a some out due to other commitments and injury, we still had a squad of 17.
The game kicked off at 1030, half an hour earlier than we usually do, it was a strong start from Widnes and Manchester looked a little out of sorts for the first 5 minutes or so, we lost the first scrum, a good tactic from Widnes to delay the put in of the ball for a second or two caught Manchester a little unaware and we nearly lost the hit.
Things settled and there was a short period of even play until our talisman, Walshy, took the ball and ran easily half the length of the pitch to score our first try, neatly converted by TJ. This really settled the team and you could see their confidence grow. This showed in all areas of the game, scrums, lineout’s and various rucks and mauls across the pitch saw Manchester generally come away from nearly all situations with the ball, distribution was good, support was good and the ball appeared in the hands of the wingers, Aden and Joe Mc on many an occasion.
Walshy produced a second as a result of a jinking run again, fantastically converted again by TJ, by this time you could hear the trepidation in the voices of the Widnes supporters every time he Tom W. touched the ball . A third try was run in by Luke off the back of some excellent lineout spoiling by the forwards, a 35 meter dash saw him touch down, ably converted again by TJ.
Not being quite the memory man that Chas is or having an ‘I something’ to dictate into, I had to rely on pencil and paper for the records, the numbers are right, the sequence probably completely wrong, but come half time another had been added by Tom W and two from Ciaran (all converted again by Tom J) saw Manchester 42 – 0 up.
We made substitutions and the replacements complemented the performance that we had seen in the first half, Manchester started well. All credit to Widnes whose heads did not go down and put up a greater fight in the second half, gamely they increased their efforts and were rewarded with a try which they converted. Ciaran replied with a great cross pitch run, change of direction and sprint forward to touch down in the corner for his second. Widnes scored again after a lapse in concentration from Manchester making the score 49 -14. Manchester made sure they got their heads together again and Walshy and Ciaran ran in two more tries, disgustingly (!) TJ missed the first of these conversions to give us a full time victory of 61 – 14.
All in, it was a commanding performance from the boys building on the strong victory at Heaton Moor recently and showing that they have the desire to play like this week in week out.
Widnes has always been a close fixture for us, and I think this just shows how Manchester have come on this season, stronger, more resilient and especially with greater strength in depth.
Player of the week went to TJ whose kicking, I have to say, I do not think I have seen bettered at any U13 match that I have seen this season, both club and school rugby included, well done TJ, all that practice has paid off. Crunchie award went to Hamza for saving a certain try by decisively taking a Widnes player into touch.
It was a great compliment to Manchester to be praised strongly by the Widnes coaches. I would just like to say thanks to Widnes for hosting the fixture, being as friendly as they always are and to the Widnes squad for not letting their heads go down when they easily could have done.
Thanks to all the players and coaches for Manchester U 13’s for a fantastic 15 a side season. Looking forward to the 7’s competition, some summer training and the 2013/4 U14’s!