Manor welcomed Brentwood to the New Wilderness this week looking to halt their run of defeats. With a growing injury list they were able to give deserved starting places to Jack Sullivan jnr and Paddy Sheehy for the first time this season.

Manor kicked off the match and it was soon very apparent that the visitors possessed a good running game as they took play to their hosts keeping Manor pinned in their half, although both sides were plagued by simple handling errors. Manor were defending well but eventually were penalised for being offside giving the visitors the first chance of points with a shot at goal. The penalty was missed and the scores remained level after 7 minutes of play.
Manor were more than holding their own in the scrums and from a scrum inside their 22 Manor attacked from deep, Cameron Dutch stepped inside his man and as it looked as though he was going to break up field the ref stopped play for a scuffle that had broken out inside Manors 22.

From the next phase of play another altercation took place, this time when calm was restored the ref sent a Brentwood player to the sin bin along with Manors Elliott Brown.

The pattern of play continued with Brentwood having the lions share of possession and territory but Manors defence held up and forced Brentwood into making mistakes. From one such mistake Manor were awarded a scrum just inside their 22, Jack Sullivan Snr drove off the back before the ball was set up and moved out to the backline, Dutch again made a break and as he crossed the halfway line he sent a long kick forward for winger Jamie Millais to chase, which he did and he looked to be wining the race but was just beaten by the bouncing ball as it went out into touch 15 meters from Brentwood’s line.

Brentwood finally made the breakthrough when Manor defended an attacking lineout inside their own 22. Manor stole the throw in but as they tried to set it up and drive on, the ball was lost allowing Brentwood’s prop to drive the ball forward before it was set up, the visitors then set up a series of driving runs, which Manor defended well, before moving the ball along the line out to their fullback who tried to round Millais, but the Manor player tackled the ball carrier but was unable to stop the offload to the supporting winger who went over for the first score of the game. The Brentwood flyhalf was successful with the conversion in off the post and after 30 minutes the visitors led 0 – 7.

Manor now had some possession with some good runs by Sheehy, Sullivan Snr and Dutch, but were unable to make the decisive break and when Brentwood set up another attack Manors defences were again tested but were helped by a Brentwood knock on. At the scrum Manor gave away a penalty in front of the posts and with time almost up the visitors took the easy points on offer, again off the posts, to move to a 0 – 10 lead.

Manor re-started the match and for the first time tested Brentwood’s defence, after turning the ball over Manor moved the ball out to Brown on the wing, he beat his opposite number for pace then as he was tackled he kicked the ball on, Aaron Lowe and Dutch both chased the kick which landed a couple of meters short of the line, but as the ball bounced up it evaded the clutches of both Manor players and allowed a Brentwood defender to take the ball to ground and with his supporting defenders they recycled the ball and kicked it to touch. With the ref playing stoppage time Manor had one last attacking opportunity from a lineout 10 meters out. They caught the ball and set up a driving maul, Brentwood couldn’t stop the drive and as it neared the line a Brentwood player cynically came around from an offside position and illegally brought the driving maul down a meter short of the line. The ref blew his whistle and sent the Brentwood player to the sin bin but inexplicably, instead of awarding a penalty try as a score was certain due the Manors maul moving towards the line when brought down, he only awarded another penalty, Manor had been denied a certain score. From the resulting penalty Manor again took a lineout and set up a maul but this time it was well defended by Brentwood and they eventually cleared the danger bringing the half to a close holding a deserved lead.

Brentwood kicked off the second half and soon picked up from their first half dominance and after a bit of early possession for Manor, the visitors turned the ball over taking the attack up field where they eventually worked the ball out wide and went over in the corner. The conversion was missed but after only 3 minutes of the second half Brentwood had increased their lead 0 – 15.

Manor had to respond quickly and for the first time in the game they had a decent amount of possession and territory. Carly Buisson made a good break from inside his half, breaking a number of tackles as he took play 30 meters on, when he was eventually stopped Manors forwards drove on and after some good ground being made by George Cosma and Sullivan Snr, Dutch took on the attack, again beating defenders before his forwards helped out. The ball then found it’s way to Sheehy who from 15 meters out, stepped inside the first defender then saw a gap which he sprinted through and sliced open Brentwood’s defence and went over the line for a well taken try. With Dutch successful from the conversion Manor were right back in the match at 7 – 15 after 10 minutes.

As expected Brentwood came back at Manor and yet again the hosts were forced to defend their line but a great steal at the breakdown by Robb Falls relieve the pressure as Manor were awarded a penalty allowing them to relieve the pressure.

The pressure did eventually tell, as Brentwood’s forwards pummelled Manors line, Manors defended well but Brentwood thought they had scored as they drove over the line but Manor had managed to hold the ball up. The ref though had been playing an offside advantage and awarded Brentwood a penalty in front of the posts, which they took to increase their lead 7 – 18 after 15 minutes.

Manor again came back at their opponents, this time the attacked stemmed from a good run by Jon Berry who then linked up with Sheehy who took play deep into Brentwood territory. Here the ball was taken to ground but with Manors forwards there in numbers it was quickly recycled to Dutch who changed the direction of the attack and drifted down the blindside cutting through Brentwood’s defensive line before flat footing the Brentwood fullback and racing over the line from 30 meters out to score an excellent try. Converting the try himself Manor were now only a few points behind 14 – 18 with 20 minutes played.

Manor were now in the ascendancy and directly from the re-start Sheehy gathered the ball and made excellent ground before a ruck was formed, here Nick Horton sent up a high box kick which was well chased by Manor putting pressure on the Brentwood catcher and winning a penalty. Just outside kickable range Horton sent an excellent touch kick deep into Brentwood’s 22, but Brentwood stole the thrown in and relieved the pressure.

Manor continued in the ascendancy and were soon on the attack again, this time another excellent break from Brown, he beat defenders for pace before linking up with Lowe who took play into the middle of the pitch before winning a penalty. Horton took the penalty quickly and sent a cross field kick out to the unmarked Brown on the wing but the ball bounced in front of him then hit him on the head and into touch before he could gather it, another scoring opportunity and gone astray.

Manor kept the pressure up on Brentwood keeping them pinned inside their 22. Here they were awarded a lineout which they won through Sheehy at the back and drove towards the line. Brentwood defended the drive and when the maul was stopped Berry drove off the back but was stopped short as was Cosma, but Manor regrouped and set up another driving maul which this time went over the line, Paddy Sheehy came up with the ball and credited with his second try of the game. The difficult conversion was just missed but with minutes left to play Manor had taken the lead for the first time in the match 19 – 18.

A one point lead was always going to difficult to defend but Manor continued to attack, Brentwood for their part defended well and counter attacked when they could and were aided by a couple of quick penalties by Manor, the second one was in range for their kicker and he took the opportunity to put Brentwood back in lead 19 – 21 with 2 minutes left on the clock.

Manor gave it their all for the rest of the game but Brentwood hung on for victory. Whilst not at their best Manor knew that they could have won the game, but a poor first half performance and maybe being on the wrong end of a few refereeing decisions meant that Brentwood took the spoils.

After the game D.O.R Mark Farrell said ‘Although we defended very well, offensively we were inept in the first half of this game. However the second half again showed what this side can be capable of when it does connect. To come back from 0-15 down & lead 19-18 with 2 mins left, only then to go down 19-22 to a last gasp penalty was a hard pill to swallow, but we can take a lot of positives from this particular loss.
The side now goes to Old Priorians next week with a renewed confidence and a debt to settle from last seasons results.’