Many Happy Returns...

Match Report by Matthew Miles:

Providing the opposition was a Blackburn side high on confidence after their 46-0 mauling of Macclesfield the previous Sunday.

The match began with Manchester very much on the back foot with Blackburn’s powerful pack dominating the first quarter. With Manchester’s forwards struggling to come to terms with the opposition and, in the process, losing two scrums against the head, Blackburn provided the first score of the match. On 11 minutes the visitors set off on an unstoppable rolling maul from the best part of 20 metres out culminating in a try. 5-0.

Blackburn’s possession continued but they started to make simple errors as the first half rolled on. After conceding a penalty in their own half, the visitors were slow to react to Luke taking a quick tap penalty. Spoting the lack of cover in the visitors defence, Luke scampered over to bring things level after 13 minutes. 5-5!

Blackburn continued to dominate but continued to make errors deep in they own half. On 20 mins Liam dived on a loose ball just outside the opposition 22. This was then followed by good combination play out wide by Noah and Sam with Noah diving over to take the lead for Manchester. 10-5!

Despite their early dominance, Blackburn were somewhat their own worst enemy. More loose play in their own 22 gave the ball away to Manchester after 37 minutes. Conor crashing over to take Manchester into a 15-5 lead at half time.

Whilst Blackburn were most probably kicking themselves after the first half, the same can’t be said about the second. The Manchester forwards, who had to face-up bravely in the first period, started to take more control after the break and Manchester soon extended the lead with a try for Liam set up brilliantly by Luke on 43 minutes. With the extra points converted by Luke to make it 22-5.

The backs were now seeing much more of the ball and more points were to follow. Chucky finished off a move after 49 minutes to make it 27-5 and then Luke finished off a great team try with phase after phase of precise Manchester rugby creating the small amount of space the Manchester number 10 required to score. 34-5 (converted by Luke).

Manchester weren’t finished. More good work from the backs including a great run from Ollie saw Dan touch down to make it 41-5 (converted by Will).

Despite going down to 14 men due to injuries, Manchester fought on with another great team try. Again, phase after phase created the opening for Ollie to score wide on the left. 66 minutes gone and 46-5.

With 3 minutes remaining Manchester were reduced to 13 after a yellow card for a high tackle. This gave Blackburn ample opportunity to take advantage and run in a late, but well deserved consolation try to bring the final score up of 46-10.

Credit to Blackburn for their first half performance and the fact that they really did keep going until the final whistle. If the visitors had continued their early intensity, this would have been a much tighter contest. For Manchester, this performance was a significant improvement on what was a decent showing the previous week. The backs are starting to click and the forwards are punching well above their weight. Promising stuff!