Manchester u12 vs Stockport u12s

Congratulations to Stockport for taking the honours in an at times hard fought contest.

As normal Manchester u12s faced a team with several players taller and heavier then our own. However Manchester stuck to the task and as the size differences even out over the coming seasons our focus on spirit, technical ability and teamwork will bear fruit. As a club with more that 30 County (and above) players in the u13 to u16 age groups we think our philosophy is about right.

The coaches from both clubs had agreed to play 3 x 20 minute games to give all the players in their squads "game time".

In their last encounter Stockport ran in dozens of unanswered tries. It is a mark of how much Manchester has improved that although the first match ended with Stockport victorious on 2 tries to 0 (Manchester having a try disallowed) it was quite an even contest.

In the middle 20 minutes the coaches had agreed to give our less experienced players "game time" and Manchester also made a few positional changes. Stockport again fielded a big outfit and took full advantage of our changes with the "six try rule" (which means the match is over) being applied after 19 minutes.

The final 20-minute game was similar to the first, very competitive and at times quite fierce. At this point though the Manchester pack was beginning to tire especially when with 10 mins to go Stockport brought on several fresh replacements Stockport managed to score 3 unanswered trys though Manchester came close a couple of times and noticeably on the last play of the day when a last ditch tackle from Stockport stopped Manchester's flying centre from running clear down the touchlines.

We were pleased with our defensive organisation and the pressure we were able to apply when Stockport had the ball possession. The forwards competed all morning and rarely took a backward step against larger opposition. However we do need to tighten up on the rare occasion when we kick - especially kick offs.

In the New Year we return to training (10am-12pm) Sunday 3rd January 2010 followed by 5 consecutive Sundays of matches (Marple, Lancashire Cup, Aldwinians, Waterloo and Congleton!). Starting in January 2010 the club will have access to the floodlit G3 surface at Aquinas College and I expect we may make use of it midweek (t.b.c.).