A small squad of nine (albeit all first choice county players for Yorkshire) arrived from West Park Leeds which compromised Manchester’s planned starting line up. From here on in though it is difficult to make excuses...

Some determined defending by Manchester inside their own 22 kept the visitors at bay from their long kick off. It looked as if Manchester had done enough to clear their lines when Leanne Murray (by the way, does everyone know it was her birthday this weekend?) found a good touch towards the 10 metre line. Unfortunately a cleanly won line out gave Leeds the chance to use their backs and to open the scoring out wide.

After this defensive effort, it was almost a relief to kick into the opponents half. Manchester retained the ball at first, but a turnover left Manchester exposed to a breakaway try, duly converted by Leeds excellent kicker to take the score to 12-0 in as many minutes.

Throughout the first half, the forwards were efficient in the ruck and should perhaps have been left to their job. Some “assistance” by a couple of the backs, or even unnecessary forwards fighting a lost cause, meant that Manchester were often overcommitted to the breakdown. A street wise Leeds team soon picked up on this fact, using their quick backs to round a stretched home defence at will, soon notching the score up to a dispiriting 19-0.

As half time approached, the best try of the game was scored with some slick handling by the visitors which baffled Manchester’s defence to create the opening and establish an unassailable 26-0 half time lead.

The half time team talk was one of encouragement but also puzzlement about Manchester’s naive tactics: over committing to the breakdown; a non-existent drift defence; and a continuing tendency to run into heavy traffic rather than trying to run or work the ball around it.

With damage limitation now the name of the game, it was disappointing to see huge gaps left out wide from the kick off that allowed Leeds to pinch a bonus point score right at the start of the second period, 33-0.

The stuffing now seemed to have been knocked out of the team and some uncharacteristically poor tackling saw the visitors through for their fortieth unanswered point and the end of the match scoring as far as the league rules were concerned.

There were some positives however, especially amongst the forwards. The front row (Alyx Maw, Emma Broadbent and Amber Smith ) held up well despite missing the injured Charlee Chambers. The second rows of Bethan Emuss and Molly Hastie were excellent throughout and their contribution to the cause should be specially noted:

- Bethan, who was asked to move to the front row to cover for an injury. Even though she could have taken the easy option to opt for uncontested scrums, she fronted up to the challenge and confirmed to the referee and opposition that scrums could remain contested
- Molly, who took a heavy tackle early in the first half and refused to leave the field despite having twisted her back. Her excuse that she couldn’t go off because we were already short of forwards was brave and a great example of team spirit. Molly continued to put in an excellent display even though that meant she suffered several more times for her efforts. Molly deservedly won the Player of the Match award for her performance

So, a heavy defeat and the ignominy of no points scored. Sometimes that happens to teams at all levels. The test of character is always how well the team recovers. The training sessions either side of the Christmas break will be important before we make the short trip to Eccles in the New Year. We’ll see then what we learned from this weekend’s experience!

Player of the Match: Molly Hastie

CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS BY LIZ BROADBENT