A promising start was made when a penalty kick by Richard McCartney deep into the Wigan 22, set up a catch-and-drive drive, smuggled over the line by Karl Higginson to create an early 5-0 lead.

As impressive as Manchester looked in attack, the defence was woeful when Wigan were allowed an unlikely 5-7 lead from a breakaway try. Wigan’s defence initially proved more solid however, frustrating Manchester who dominated both territory and possession but without making a second breakthrough in the first quarter. The set up for the next try was, to be honest, fortuitous thanks to a missed catch (or outrageous dummy?) which wrongfooted the Wigan defensive line, but the execution was faultless when the ball travelled out wide to Ollie Dickinson who danced down his wing to restore the lead to 12-7 once Doug Day had converted from out wide.

Day missed out on being the next scorer when he decided to return a pass rather than taking the ball on himself, but it was only a matter of minutes before Dickinson doubled his tally after taking a difficult pass and then running to the line unopposed (17-7).

It was Wigan’s turn to waste a scoring opportunity next; a two man overlap being ignored, allowing Manchester to clear. As the home side regained territory, a long line out throw didn’t go to hand but was quickly recovered. Once again the wall was spread towards the left wing and a rapid hat trick for Dickinson resulted along with a first half bonus point for the team, now at 22-7.

Not to be out done, Harry Lewis on the opposite wing closed the first half scoring thanks to some great support play as he took the ball on from McCartney’s initial break. On the stroke of half time his try was converted by Day for a healthy 29-7 lead at the break.

Manchester were in no mood to take the foot off the gas, even with the afternoon’s job effectively done. When Dickinson and Day combined to break the visitors’ defence, a deserved try resulted for Tom Fantom as the support runner, extending the gap to 36-7 in the opening minutes.

At such a score, the game began to break up in entertaining fashion as Manchester chased points and Wigan pushed for a second try of their own. It looked as if Wigan were going to achieve that aim after some good pressure until the ball was spilled inside the Manchester 22. Dickinson was quick to react and, with Lewis in support, the pace of the two young backs was almost unstoppable; Lewis bravely taking a heavy tackle as he timed his return pass to Dickinson to perfection. The 43-7 gap from Dickinson’s fourth try of the match was good to see, but the hit on Lewis was a worry as he left the field temporarily for attention.

The Manchester back line was not just about pace, but strength too. Day, now one of the more senior players with the Academy squad graduating so effectively, once again made the initial break. When his progress was halted, Joe Houghton was on hand this time, wrestling the ball over the line to bring up the half century at 50-7 with a quarter still to play.

With such a score, Manchester were unsurprisingly playing with confidence now, forwards and backs combining well, in fact it was difficult to tell between them in open play! Houghton ran a great line to get within ten metres of the line but it was Fantom with a deft flick of the ball behind his back who found Jake Stewart. Stewart adding himself to the growing list of ex-Colts to score tries on the day (57-7).

The tenth and final try came from a typical blast through the middle by Anthony TiaTia who was just far too quick and strong to resist as the Wigan defence tired. Day’s kicking remained excellent as he slotted a difficult conversion to close Manchester’s scoring at 64-7.

A defiant try from Wigan in the closing minutes completed the afternoon’s try fest at 64-14 but Manchester took all the honours as their undefeated home run was extended, and several young ‘pretenders’ from last season’s Academy made it clear that they are about to become permanent fixtures in an exciting First XV squad.