Manor welcomed league newcomers Sudbury this week knowing that they would be in for a testing afternoon against a side that had already shown that they were comfortable in this league. Manor went on to play some of their best rugby of the season in the first half of the contest but took their foot off the pedal in the second period, but still came away comfortable winners 31 – 12.

With Manor receiving the kick off, they drove forward before Cameron Dutch sent a long kick into touch inside Sudbury’s 22. The visitors won the first lineout of the match but as they made their way towards halfway they dropped the ball, Nick Horton reacted the quickest and hacked the ball forwards taking play back into Sudbury’s 22. For the next few minutes play centred around Sudbury’s 22 and Manor continued to attack, but the visitors showed good defensive patterns to keep Manor at bay.

The deadlock was eventually broken when Manor were awarded a penalty which they kicked to touch for a lineout 10 meters from Sudbury’s line. The throw in was won by Rob Falls which allowed Manor to set up a driving maul which was eventually slowed down a few meters from the try line, here Michael Byrne broke off the back and powered through defenders to go over the line for Manors first try. Dutch was successful with the conversion and Manor had registered the first points on the board and after 10 minutes they led 7 – 0.

The re-start was claimed by Falls who broke through the first few tackles before linking up with Misiona Evagelia who after breaking tackles fed the backline where Elliott Brown had joined in from fullback. He took play into Sudbury’s 22 then as he was being tackled, popped the ball to Harry Tustanowskyji who darted through a gap and was making his way to the line only to be brought back by the ref for a forward pass.

Sudbury showed that they had come to play an open game and strung together some good passages of play, but Manors defence was solid and Sudbury did not look like breaking through.

Manor were playing at a pace that their opponents were finding difficult to live with and whilst Sudbury’s lineout and scrum were both strong, they were second best in open play. Manor continued to attack inside Sudbury’s 22 and after a couple of forward drives Ollie Waugh went for the line only to be stopped a few meters short, the ball was recycled to Evagelia who drove to the line and was stopped just short, after being tackled he reached out and grounded the ball on the line but the ref disallowed the try deeming a double movement had been made.

Sudbury were finding it difficult to get into Manors half and when they did they often kicked away possession as they could not breach Manors defensive line. From one such kick Reece Reed sent up a high kick which Brown chased and as the ball bounced inside Sudbury’s half he grabbed the ball went around his opposite number and raced towards Sudbury’s 22, here he linked up with Horton and Byrne and the attack closed in on Sudbury’s line, the ball was then fed to Falls, but the flanker couldn’t hold onto the pass and another certain scoring opportunity had gone begging.

Manor were eventually rewarded for their superiority when Reed took a quick tap from a penalty awarded just outside Sudbury’s 22, he jinked around a couple for defenders before good interplay between Horton and Michael Byrne eventually saw the ball being fed to Brown out wide who raced over in the corner for Manors second try. Dutch slotted the touchline conversion to increase Manors lead to 14 – 0 after 30 minutes.

From the re-start Manor immediately took the attack back to the visitors, Dutch made the initial break before Oscar Townend powered up the middle of the park before the ball was moved out to Tustanowskji who brought the ball in from the wing where a Sudbury knock on gave Manor a scrum. Waugh picked up from the base and drove into the 22 where a ruck was set up which allowed quick ball to be fed to Dutch who showed great acceleration to attack the defensive line before selling an outrageous dummy allowing him to glide through a gap and over the line and behind the posts for another Manor try. With the conversion good, the score ticked onto 21 – 0 after 35 minutes.

There was still time for Manor to increase their lead before halftime. With Dutch in possession inside his half he put in a long clearance kick into Sudbury’s 22 but was then taken out late and Manor were awarded a penalty 8 meters out from the goal line, Sudbury’s winger was also sent to the bin for his late tackle. From the penalty Manor took a quick tap and go with Jack Sullivan proving difficult to stop before Harry Reid took the attack forward, when he was brought down short of the line a ruck was set up and with ball in hand Horton scampered around the side of the ruck to score Manors fourth, bonus point try. The conversion was just missed and with the ref bringing a halt to the first half Manor held a commanding lead 26 – 0.

Sudbury kicked off the second half and Manor were soon back on the attack when Brown set up a counter attack making 30 meters before linking up with Reed who beat the first defender then made ground into Sudbury’s 22 where he was taken into touch but not before he managed to off load the ball to his support but the ball went forward and with Sudbury’s defences stretched it looked like Manor would have scored again.

Sudbury now enjoyed a period of attacking play and had upped their game from their first half performance whereas Manors intensity had dropped but their defence was still strong and didn’t allow the visitors the opportunity to break through. Both sides were making basic handling errors and Manors penalty count was beginning to rise. After giving away another penalty in front of the posts Manor gave Sudbury the opportunity to get some points on the board but the kick was missed.

The game continued to be played inside Manors half and although Sudbury didn’t look like scoring Manor couldn’t put together any sustained periods of possession. Still defending Waugh smashed a Sudbury ball carrier in the tackle, driving him backwards and dislodging the ball. Manor piled into the ruck and drove Sudbury off the ball allowing Evagelia to pick up the ball, but the ref deemed that the ball wasn’t out and sent the Manor player to the bin with 18 minutes of the half played.

Sudbury kicked for an attacking lineout which they won and drove towards the line, Manor defended this well and drove Sudbury back so the ball was sent along Sudbury’s backline where Tustanowskyj managed to get his hands on the ball which allowed substitute Rhys Davis-Horne to send a long clearance kick into touch on halfway.

Sudbury continued to attack but were still being met by aggressive defending with Sullivan and Falls putting in some massive hits keeping their opponents at bay. Manor then made their way up the park, helped by some indiscipline from Sudbury which gave Manor the opportunity from a penalty to kick deep into Sudbury’s 22, but the kick was a poor one and didn’t find touch and gave the initiative back to Sudbury.

Despite Sudbury having the better of possession and territory they didn’t have the cutting edge to break Manors defence and it was the home side that scored the first points of the second half.

From a scrum inside Manors half, Waugh picked up from the base and broke a couple of tackles before linking well with Falls, he in turn made 30 meters taking the attack into Sudbury’s 22 where he fed the supporting Brown who outsprinted the defence to go in at the corner for another Manor try, which although unconverted increased Manors lead to 32 – 0 after 30 minutes.

The last 10 minutes belonged to Sudbury, helped considerably by Manors ill-discipline. First Waugh was sent to the bin for a high tackle, this allowed Sudbury to kick for an attacking lineout. Manor defended the driving maul and subsequent attempts to cross the try line, but again Manor offended at the breakdown, this time it was Brown who was sent to the sin bin, Manor were now down to 13 men. Sudbury opted for a scrum allowing their No 8 to drive off the back, Manor defended this and a further couple of drives but eventually the pressure told and Sudbury scored their first try of the match. With the conversion well taken with time running out Manor led 31 – 7.

Things got worse from the restart when Manor secured the ball but some pushing and shoving between the two sides saw another yellow card shown, this time to Davis-Horne, Manor were now down to 12 players. Sudbury took advantage by attacking Manors line, making their 3 man advantage count by working an overlap out wide to score the final points of the game. With the whistle blown for fulltime, Manor had won 31 – 12.

Although Manor had won by a comfortable margin, the talk in the huddle afterwards wasn’t about the good first half performance, but the indifferent second half display, the number of scoring opportunities that went begging during the match and finishing the game with 12 players on the park. It was acknowledged that when Manor come up against the sides above them in the league they will have to produce a full 80 minute performance to claim any sort of result.

Next week Manor travel to Ruislip and although their hosts are still looking for their first victory of the season Manor are only too aware of how difficult it can be to get a result at Ruislip and any sort of complacency could see them slip up at a venue that has unhappy memories of past defeats.