IT'S ALL GONE DUODECIMAL

We have been blessed with weather so far this year and a lovely day dawned. However, clouds began to gather as the sat nav took me a merry dance and then parking was a mare! In fact I ended up parked next to one at the Equestrian centre about 3 miles away. Must get some new specs as I thought the opposition looked a little large but they turned out to be ponies! Actually when I saw the opposition I thought I had gone back to the Equestrian Centre but they were just a big side.

Missed most of the warm up but got a cuppa and soon the boys were off.

Over to Statto:

As I write this on the eve of our first Lancashire Cup games of the season the rain continues to lash down, returning Manchester Rugby Club to its natural submerged state. Luckily over the past few seasons our U12 supporters have evolved into a semi-aquatic race of people with translucent skin and primitive gills.

But it’s not all good news however. With only 48 inches of rainfall having fallen since early November, the mangrove region of the cross pitch has been in danger of drying out very slightly and there were very real concerns that the field wasn't flooded to the depth required to support larger marine life like catfish and snapping turtles. Also the alligators, which had arrived in September, were beginning to get a little bit irritable. “If only the rains had come sooner” I mused. “I might still have a left arm below the elbow... oh! and a wife, but better late than never I suppose...”

Enough! I had left this match report for far too long and now all the good headlines juxtaposing rugby and predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida, easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger, had been taken. Damn. I had wasted a whole week observing raindrops trace their way down my window-pane. Like rivers in miniature they formed exact copies of meanders, oxbows and once, on Tuesday night, a rare braided form. Even as I celebrated finding this rare rivulet, I realised that all this weather-watching was just distracting me from the hellish, brain-curdling reality that is my shabby, predictable and ultimately meaningless life. So in an attempt to stop myself from thinking about the slightest hint of a possibility that life may in fact be a relentlessly nauseating sea of mouse droppings I began to write...

Someone from Yorkshire would have had no difficulty in counting the tries we scored against Sale on the fingers of both hands - with digits to spare, but last Sunday certainly had me fumbling around for another appendage.

FIRST QUARTER
Sale kicked off and immediately put us under the kind of pressure we'd been dishing out to the opposition all season and were quickly rewarded with the opening try, their forwards slicing through the Manchester backs, who finally managed to hold play up only to see the ball scrambled over the line. Unfortunately (for them anyway!) the conversion kick was missed. This was a wake up call for our boys - a real shock to the system. They kicked off and immediately were on the offensive. For a time the Sale defence held solid against waves of crashing attack play. Manchester were making good ground in the opposition half and finally Sale to conceded a scrum. Excellent work from the won scrum forced Sale into giving away a penalty. Here was our first real chance of the quarter, the ball was spread wide in a neat show of handling skills to a waiting player in the middle of the pitch to receive the pass and crash his way through the Sale lines and charge towards the try-line to register the equaliser. Our kicker made no mistake with the conversion, so for the first time in the game we were ahead. Soon after saw a great bit of individual skill as a Manchester player seized his opportunity and sprinted down the wing powerfully, forcing off defenders to score in the corner. Once again the conversion kick was good.

Overall thoughts for this period were that after a slow start the attacking play got into gear and our support play to the ball carriers got better as the quarter progressed. Manchester were very solid in defence when called upon. It was particularly pleasing to see how many times the ball got out to the wings (or an attempt was made to do so).
Stats for this quarter are as follows: We had no lineouts whilst Sale had three, losing two of them. Sale kicked it once. We had two scrums, only winning one, whilst Sale were awarded one which they won. We had one penalty whilst the opposition were given two. Stats showed that in this first period the ball got out to the wing three times and there was only one breakdown.

Manchester 2 Sale 1

SECOND QUARTER
A marvellous chase down from our kick off immediately put pressure on Sale. From a won lineout against the head the ball was recycled into the middle of the pitch for an onrushing Manchester player to crash his way through and score, and once again the kick was converted with aplomb. Manchester were starting to look dangerous whenever they attacked. Some smart passing and interchanges between our boys almost brought a swift fourth try soon after. Our boys were producing some lovely, confident rugby by this time. The continual pressing back of Sale deep into their own half for long stretches of the quarter was bound to pay off and after some great work by the pack at a scrum the ball was fed across the pitch for a player to pump his legs and make a break for the corner to score. Again the conversion was good. The fifth try was the result of a brilliant pop pass by a tackled Manchester player, a perfectly weighted ball that found the grateful hands of a speeding support player to crash through the centre of the defence and over the try line. The resulting conversion kick went sailing over between the posts. Manchester went 'poptastic' now, as from another won scrum the ball was fed out wide through two accurate passes before the ball carrier was tackled. Again we were treated to a nicely executed pop pass to set up a Manchester player who wasted no time in threading his way through the Sale defence.

Overall thoughts for this period were that I saw some brutal, brilliant, high-intensity play from Manchester. A lot of the work I see being practiced on a Wednesday night was now being tried on a Sunday morning. Great work fellas!
Stats for this quarter are as follows: Manchester kicked the ball once. We had two lineouts which we won, whilst Sale also had two, losing them both. We had one scrums which we won, whilst Sale were awarded four winning the one. We had two penalties whilst the opposition were given one. Stats showed that in this second period the ball got out to the wing three times and there were three breakdowns.

Manchester 4 Sale 0

THIRD QUARTER
We managed three tries, the first a great weaving effort, the second a scrambled one from a quickly taken penalty and the third, another fine solo effort from an exquisitely weighted short pass. All three conversion attempts were made.

Overall thoughts for this period were that although all the play was again in the Sale half. Manchester (in my opinion) got suckered into going down 'the going for glory' route. On a number of occasions the wrong decision was taken, with the ball carrier electing to run alone rather than make the pass when other team mates were in a position to exploit the gaps better.

Stats for this quarter are as follows: Sale kicked the ball once. We had one lineout which we lost, whilst Sale had two, winning one. We had no scrums, whilst Sale were awarded two, winning both. Both teams had two penalties. Stats showed that in this third period the ball got out to the wing three times and there were four breakdowns.

Manchester 3 Sale 0

FOURTH QUARTER
Sale deservedly scored within the first few minutes of this quarter, with one of their players running unopposed down the touch line to score. Both sets of parents applauded. Sale had never bowed their heads and this was a great testament to their character. Again we managed three tries, the first a crashing drive through the Sale defence. The second, another scrambled effort and the third, the pick of this quarters tries for Manchester, was started by another quickly taken penalty which saw the ball passed three times down the line for a waiting player to scamper down the touchline to score. Two of the three kicking attempts were good, with the third just skewing wide of the upright. Back again came Sale managing a third try at the death.

Overall thoughts for this period were that after going behind in this period, possibly thinking it was game over, Manchester reverted to the expansive style of rugby we've been coaching them. That said they came up against a Sale team fired up in this final quarter to get some points on the board themselves.

Stats for this quarter are as follows: Manchester kicked the ball once. We had four lineouts winning three, whilst Sale had one which they won. We had no scrums, whilst Sale were awarded two, winning one. There were no penalties for either side. Stats showed that in this fourth period the ball got out to the wing four times and there were three breakdowns. breakdowns.

Manchester 3 Sale 2

So, my thoughts for the match. There were some great individual displays out there today, but also some of the team play was the best I've seen so far this season. We lost our way for a while in the third quarter, but came back well in the final period.
Final Score:
Manchester 82 Sale 19
I'm awarding this an overall 'brilliant team performance' accolade. Stickers all round!