The Tigers Triumph over Trafford

With the smell of bonfires and fireworks still in the misty Sunday morning air, the Tigers came to play total rugby against a Trafford side that had caused them problems over the years of tag. The coaches knew that this match was going to be special, we just didn't know how special!!

Game 1: MRC 20v15 Trafford MV
Game 1 saw Ollie stepping up to the plate as Captain for the first time this season. Trafford won the toss and elected to play. Buoyed by their previous results at Tag level, the Trafford team looked confident as the Referee blew the whistle for the start of the game. What a shock it was then as their runner was unceremoniously flattened by the first tackle of the day, spilled the ball and Josh had the speed to sweep it up from the loose and run over uncontested for a very easy first try of the game. Trafford were now playing catch up and by their coaches reactions, this was not what they expected from their trip to Grove Park. Unfortunately no-one had bothered to tell the Tigers the script and as Trafford restarted so did the hard tackling of Manchester, with powerful ripping in the maul giving the ball back to Manchester for Josh again to go over with some ease. Trafford regrouped as best they could with their coaches dragging their feet to the restart. 2 tries down, Trafford finally woke up to the game and they charged forward purposefully with some fine running and an outstanding sidestep allowing them to go over the Manchester line, game on. The Tigers came straight back with the Tigers pack driving over for Myles to score Manchester's third. Again a couple of missed tackles later and Trafford were over for their second and the crowd could see that this game was not yet over. A superb solo try that saw Luke dancing down the touchline took the Tigers into a 20v10 half time lead.

The Tigers swapped half their team at half time and a new front row of Ollie, Ethan and Bill came to the fore in the second half. This half was a tough affair with neither team giving an inch. Ollie lead his team well with plenty of muscle at the breakdown and a determination to drive Trafford off the park, which was infectious for the rest of his team mates. Even so, Trafford were the only side to break the whitewash taking the score to 20v15 and a tense final few minutes. Manchester's solid defence held on to claim the spoils in game 1.

Game 2: MRC 25v5 Trafford MV
Game 2 saw Trafford blooding their second string players and an electric 'H' Bomb took full advantage of this with 3 first half tries that sealed the victory early on. Special praise has to be given to his second try which saw him wrong footing the entire Trafford side with a show of the ball and a left footed feint to power over unopposed. Luke kept up his try tally with a score either side of half time and though Trafford remained competitive with ball in hand, it was in the loose that they had no answer to the power and strength displayed by these young Manchester Tigers. All too often Trafford went into a maul with the ball only to come up empty handed having had the ball ripped by any one of the Tigers. There was really no place to hide for Trafford and even though the referee played plenty of overtime, still they were driven backwards by a solid wave of red shirted heroes. The final whistle eventually went and the Tigers were victorious once more.

Todays mighty Tigers were (tries in brackets): Alex, Bill, Charles, Eddie, Ethan, Fin, Harrison(3), Joe, Josh(2), Luke D(3), Matt, Myles(1), Ollie and Thomas. At this point a special mention for Joseph who came down to train with the boys and supported them throughout both matches. We look forward to coaching him through the season and for him to becoming yet another great asset to this exciting Tiger's team.

Next week we have an away day to Heaton Moor to look forward to. Plenty more rugby and lots to learn......bring it on. More details to follow in the week. Thanks, Ian