Manchester Sink The Pinks

The willingness of the North Wales' girls to travel to Sandbach at such short notice was much appreciated. Colwyn Bay have an enviable set up for girls' rugby and it was good to see the pink shirted Mermaids in action for the second time this season.

Having been soundly beaten (22-52) by the Mermaids in that opening match, Manchester were grateful of this unexpected opportunity to make amends.

In the previous match, Colwyn Bay had managed to exploit our wings, but this time Manchester’s defence was much better prepared.

Several players were again asked to play out of position as Manchester used the game to look at their options. One of those successes was that of Bethan Emuss and Rachael Knowles making a good combination at second row, adding strength to what became on the day a dominating pack.

Beth Price opened the scoring for Manchester with a well executed break down the wing. This was Beth’s first try for the Club and it was good to see our girls register some points first for a change!

Rebecca Scholes, playing her usual aggressive but fair game, doubled the gap to 10 points but failed to convert her score. Becky actually deserved more points on the day but her puzzling record of having tries disallowed continued. This week, one was considered not to have been grounded and another was not seen by the referee after Becky took advantage of a quick penalty 10 metres out.

Colwyn Bay recovered well from the tries conceded and were soon back in the game when an unconverted try made the score just 10-5 to Manchester. The Mermaids are a strong and well drilled side and piled on the pressure at that point, piecing together several phases of play before being brought down by the Manchester defence as they pressed towards the line.

The pressure was relieved on the pitch and the scoreboard when Charlee Chambers, who had another storming game, notched up Manchester’s third and final try.

The match finished nervously for Manchester when the Mermaids scored an easy try after a poorly received ball from the restart was hacked forward, hacked back, and then picked up and put under the sticks. A golden opportunity had been seized by Colwyn Bay and with the try converted, the final 15-12 scoreline had to be held onto tenaciously by the Manchester girls.

As well as Beth scoring her debut try, Emily Sumner made her debut appearance for the team and had several good runs, looking comfortable in her position. It was also good to welcome Meg Standring back for her first match after injury.

A special Fair Play award is deserved by Emma Broadbent who sportingly volunteered to change sides when one of the Colwyn Bay forwards got injured which would have meant uncontested scrums. Many thanks, Emma – and luckily you didn’t actually score for them…

This was an excellent, fairly played game and a credit to both sides. Well done girls!