Manor welcomed local rivals Chingford to the New Wilderness this week knowing that past history has shown that league position counted for nothing in what has always been a fiercely contested local derby. The game also marked the 50th game for Cameron Dutch and the league debut for Luca Minns, another player from Manors successful mini and youth set up.

Manor kicked off the game and had the better of the early exchanges but soon fell foul of the refs whistle giving away a penalty allowing Chingford to kick for a lineout close to Manors 10 meter line. Manor stole the throw in but knocked the ball on when trying to set up an attack. The first scrum of the day was won by Chingford, although under pressure. They moved the ball along the line but a good tackle by Nick Horton dislodged the ball from Chingford’s flyhalf, Jake Kane gathered the loose ball and set off on a counter attack taking play close to halfway. With a defender in front of him he drew his man before passing to the supporting Christian Squire who from inside his own half sprinted half the length of the pitch, leaving chasing defenders in his wake to score his maiden try for Manor. Cameron Dutch added the conversion and after only 3 minutes Manor led 7 – 0.

From the restart Manor didn’t deal with the kick and gave away a penalty but won a reprieve when Chingford went for touch but only succeeded in kicking the ball dead in goal giving Manor a scrum back where the penalty originally was. To make matters worse for Chingford they were penalised at the scrum allowing Manor to kick up field.

Play settled down a bit with Chingford having the lions share of possession and territory, but Manors defence was solid and aggressive all over the park making life very difficult for their visitors.

Manors next points came as a result of yet more aggressive tackling by Manor, this time keeping Chingford pinned in their own 22 as they tried to run the ball from deep. Failing to make any inroads through Manors defence Chingford chipped the ball out of their 22 only for it to be gathered by Manors winger Ire Onabajo, he stepped inside, beat a couple of would be tacklers before being brought to ground, Manors forwards drove the ball on until Chingford were penalised for an offence at a ruck. Dutch stepped up and from 30 meters out sent his penalty attempt through the middle of the posts to increase Manors lead to 10 – 0 after 17 minutes.

Manor were now put under pressure from Chingford as they enjoyed good possession and territory gradually working their way towards Manors line. Here they pounded away at Manors defence trying to get their first score but were again met by strong and resilient defending with Manor knocking Chingford ball carriers back in the tackle, eventually Alex Leo won a penalty at a ruck allowing Manor to clear the danger.

Manors forward superiority was beginning to tell as they disrupted Chingford’s scrum and used their driving maul from lineouts to good effect. Manors second try came from an attacking lineout inside Chingford’s 22. With Sullivan catching the throw in Manor drove the ball forwards making a good 10 meters before the drive was stopped, the ball was then driven off the back of the maul with George Cosma being stopped just short of the line. Manor secured the ball and moved it quickly out to Jordan Sullivan-Warner on the wing, with his opposite number in front of him, he went for the line taking his opponent with him as he got over the line to score Manors second try. Dutch couldn’t add the difficult conversion and with 35 minutes gone Manor had increased their lead to 15 – 0.

The remining minutes of the half saw Chingford continuing to enjoy the majority of possession and territory but were struggling to make any inroads with their power runners and after being forced back into their own half they kicked the ball into touch to bring the half to a close.
Chingford kicked off the second half competing for the ball, which they knocked on giving Manor a scrum on their 22, here David Ogufere drove off the base of the scrum, making good yardage before linking up with Sullivan-Warner and Toto Odulaja before Dutch joined the attack racing 20 meters into Chingford’s 22 before being hauled down 15 meters short of the line, Manors forwards were there in numbers driving the ball on until a knock on close to the line stopped a promising attack.

From the scrum Manor drove the opposition pack backwards winning another penalty at the scrum. This time they opted for another scrum allowing Ogufere to drive off the base, when he was brought to ground the ball was moved quickly out to Manors backline where Jake Kane evaded a tackle before drifting across the middle of the park then sent the ball out wide where it reached Onabajo out on the wing, here the young winger rode the first tackle despite it being high, he then twisted and drove towards the line and despite the arrival of another two Chingford defenders he just managed to get the ball down on the try line for Manors third try. Dutch again couldn’t add the extra points from the difficult touchline conversion but Manor had made the perfect start to the second half increasing their lead to 20 – 0 after 6 minutes.

From the restart Chingford again enjoyed a good period of possession but still couldn’t break Manors defensive line, but were still causing Manors some issues and winning a couple of penalties. They won a penalty in front of the posts but turned down the easy three points and took a scrum instead, although they won the put in they were under pressure as they tried to pick and drive towards Manors line and eventually Manor turned the ball over allowing their backs to launch a counterattack from close to their own line, Odulaja and Onabajo combined well before Kane took the attack on beating a couple of players as he made his way into Chingford’s half where Manors forwards took up the attack taking play close to Chingfords 22 before a knock on brought another promising attack to a halt.

Manor continued to have the better of things with Kane playing a pivotal role in all that was good with Manors play, he looked to have put Dutch in the clear on Chingford’s 22 but a forward pass stopped yet another scoring opportunity.

Manors next score came as a result of attacking play by Chingford who ran the ball out of their 22 where their winger with ball in hand got the better of Sullivan-Warner as he beat him on the outside and headed towards the halfway line, but Manors winger had chased after his opponent brought him to ground, got his hands on the ball and won a penalty which Manor kicked for a lineout inside Chingfords 22. Here second half substitute Jack Sullivan claimed the throw in allowing Manors forwards to set up an unstoppable drive over the line where Sullivan scored the try. With the conversion just missing Manor held a commanding 25 – 0 lead after 21 minutes.

To their credit Chingford continued to test Manors defence and their efforts were finally rewarded when after a series of hard drives into the heart of Manors defence before quickly moving the ball out wide to score in the corner. The difficult touchline conversion was successful and Chingford were eventually rewarded for their hard work as they reduced the deficit to 25 – 7 after 25 minutes.

From the restart Manor hit straight back at Chingford with some powerful forward runs by BJ Tunde, Damian Horton and Jesse Liston before Dutch again caused Chingford problems as he weaved his way to Chingford’s 22. Here the forwards again bashed holes in Chingford’s defence with Sullivan charging towards the line but was stopped 7 meters short. Here Manor set up a ruck where Odulaja got his hands on the ball at the back of the ruck, he went to go open sending out an outrageous dummy before changing direction going down the blind side and through a massive gap in Chingford’s defence to scamper over the line unopposed to score Manors final try, which was converted moving the score to 32 – 7 after 30 minutes.

The final minutes of the game saw Manor continue to press with good runs by debutant Minns and Squire but neither side got close to scoring although Chingford did enjoy the final minutes of the game in possession.

After the game Manors satisfied D.O.R. Mark Farrell said
“League positions counted for nothing today, we knew Chingford would be a difficult and resilient opponent, but we prepared well on the training ground this week and their brand of route one rugby was never going to be enough against this robust Manor side. That said we still have a knack of making things hard for ourselves, patience in working our phases is something we still need to work on. The win was once again underpinned by our dominant scrum and our line out allowing our catch and drive to work very effectively.

Mention must be made to scrumhalf Toto Odulaja’s outrageous dummy and step to score and to 19 year old Luca Minns on his league debut, we hope the first of many games for this talented young man.

We managed a solid enough performance against a spirited Chingford, but we will hit the training ground hard this week as we move forward and prepare for an away trip to Leighton Buzzard next week” . - UTM.