The Magnificent Sevens continued their winning ways against Congleton.

Ewan, who captained the first match, won the toss and elected to take the play to the opposition. This first game was a close affair with Congleton pressing hard, tagging well and matching the Tigers try for try, taking them to a 5-5 scoreline with one play of the match remaining. From the restart, Frank passed the ball to Alex and the attack was on. Alex, who side stepped superbly all day, was tagged close to the Congleton line. With excellent support play from Luke, Alex made the pass and Luke went over in the corner, securing the first of the Tigers victories.

Ollie captained the second match, which started badly for Manchester when an early turnover converted into a Congleton try. Manchester now had to play catch up throughout the first half, but brilliant support play both in attack and defence, saw the Tigers come in level at half time. A good team talk by Coach Nick ensued, and the Tigers came out roaring in the second half. Max started the second half, passing to Ollie who took the ball in hand to score the first of his brace of tries. Congleton pressed hard to get back into the match, but with Frank and Alex protecting the middle of the park and excellent tagging from Luke and Lightning out wide, the Tigers got the turnover and Ewan was at hand to run in his second of the match. Congleton made a number of substitutions, but the impetus was with Manchester and further tries followed from both Luke and Ben. When the final whistle blew, the Tigers were deserved winners with an 8-5 scoreline.

Luke captained the final match and the Tigers took the fight once more to Congleton. First half tries from Ollie and Luke and a hat trick from Alex saw Manchester keeping ahead of a much changed Congleton line up. This third match saw Manchester tiring and even the nimble footed Alex was flagging by half time. A quickly grabbed drink and some inspirational words from Coach Ian saw the Tigers again step up the pace in the second half, with Lightning running over twice to take the match away from a resurgent Congleton. Ewan supported well to run in his third of the day from an offload from Frank after he was tagged, and as with the first game, Luke ran over with the last play of the match to record a third victory with the match finishing 8-6.

The victory was made all the more sweeter with the fact that Manchester’s star tagger, Eddie, was missing along with Coach John. Attacking coaches, Tim and Will worked miracles with the Tigers during the breaks and their display throughout the day was one worthy of a Team trophy, let alone a Man of the Match award. Alex and Luke both finished the day with a whopping 6 tries apiece, however, the Man of the Match award goes to Max who continues to improve his game with some great ball handling and support play, well done.

The Tigers today were: Alex, Luke, Ewan, Ben, Lightning, Max, Frank and Ollie

Next week we are back to Manchester for training then off to Stockport the following week for a must win fixture before our Xmas panto back at Manchester Rugby Club.