Manor travelled into central London this week to play Belsize Park on their home pitch in Regents Park. With a number of players unavailable the team showed changes from the side that had beaten Colchester including the long awaited league debut of player/coach Jesse Liston and from the bench new recruit Christian Squire.

Manor kicked off the game playing up the slope and into a driving rain filled wind with standing water on the pitch. Belsize Park controlled most of the early play, dominating possession and territory, but despite their best endeavours they didn’t look like they would break down Manors well organised and aggressive defence. At the first scrum of the game Manor showed their dominance winning a penalty, one of many at the scrum that they would win, allowing them to clear the ball up field.

Still Belsize Park controlled possession and aided by a couple of penalties given away by Manor they found themselves with the first scoring opportunity of the game were they opted for a kick at goal after Manor were penalised for going offside, the kicked was missed and after 12 minutes of play the game remained scoreless.

Manor soon thought that they had created their first scoring opportunity of the game when from a scrum Manor drove the ball on from their 22 with the forwards driving the ball on, after ground was made Nick Horton sent a cross field kick out to Cameron Dutch who was out on the wing, he caught the ball on halfway, beat his man and sped towards the line leaving defenders in his wake only for the ref, who had an excellent game, to bring play back deeming that Dutch was in front of the kicker and so awarded Belsize Park a penalty which they kicked for an attacking lineout inside Manors 22.

Belsize Park won the throw in and their backline tried to break through Manors defensive line, but were again met by determined defence, highlighted by Liston who put in a monster hit on the ballcarrier which caused the ball to dislodge allowing him to kick the ball up field, Manor chased the kick ahead eventually getting the ball into Belsize Park’s 22 where the hosts knocked the ball on.

From the subsequent scrum, and with the ref playing another penalty advantage, David Ogufere drove off the base taking three defenders to bring him down, Toto Odulaja picked up the ball and darted through a gap and when he was brought down the ball was moved along the line where Frank Sullivan straightened up the attack and from 10 meters out powered through tacklers to score by the posts. Dutch converted and Manor had got the first points of the match after 28 minutes 0 – 7.

Belsize Park continued to attack but again without a real cutting edge. Manor were totally dominant at the scrum winning a couple of penalties one of which they kicked for a lineout on the 10 meter line. Here they secured the throw and set up a driving maul which made 20 meters taking play deep into Belsize Park’s 22. From here Manors forwards picked and drove towards the line with Ogufere, George Cosmo and John Berry all getting close to scoring, eventually Manors forward power told when BJ Tunde picked up from the back of a ruck and drove over from 8 meters out to score Manors second try, which again Dutch converted and with no time to re-start the game Manor took a 0 – 14 lead into the second half.

With Belsize Park kicking off the second half Manor had the best of the elements and slope, although the driving rain and strong wind had subsided. Manor now upped their game and put more pressure on their hosts. Through Liston, they stole a lineout inside their half and after a few forward drives, hooker Berry put a grubber kick into Belsize Park’s 22 and with Liston harassing the defender he kicked it into touch, but made no ground as Manor won a lineout inside the oppositions 22. With the throw in secured Manor moved the ball along their line where substitute Squire beat a couple of would be defenders before off loading to Jordan Sullivan-Warner who had space in front of him but the ref halted the promising attack for another forward pass.

Manor now gave away a couple of needless penalties which allowed Belsize Park to eventually kick to touch for an attacking lineout inside Manors 22. With their lineout working smoothly they secured possession and set up a series of forward drives taking play towards the middle of the pitch, they then shipped the ball back the way they had come and found space out wide to go over in at the corner. The conversion was missed although they were now on the scoresheet after 10 minutes 5 – 14.

Belsize Park were now having the better of things as Manor let their intensity drop as their hosts tried to add to their score, but good defence by Manor again shut them out.

Manors next score came from a Belsize Park scrum on Manors 22. Manor turned the ball over then moved it quickly to Squire in the centre who beat his opposite number then showed great pace on a heavy pitch racing deep into Belsize Park’s half before putting in an excellently weighted kick for Dutch to chase and as the ball bounced into the dead ball area Dutch won the race to touchdown for an excellent try. Unfortunately he couldn’t add the conversion but Manor had extended their lead to 5 – 19 after 25 minutes.

The score seemed break the hearts of Belsize Park and immediately from the re-start Manor took the game to their opponents with Ogufere, Billy Morris and Alex Leo all driving forwards before Dutch made a break into Belsize Park’s 22 where he was stopped by a high tackle so winning a penalty. Manor kicked for a lineout 7 metres from the line but lost the throw, as Belsize Park tried to attack from close to their line Manor drove them back winning a penalty when Belsize Park kicked the ball trough in a ruck. Manor opted for a scrum where Ogufere picked up from the base and went blind knocking the opposition scrumhalf off his feet and out of the field of play then drove through the oppositions backrow to score in the corner for Manors bonus point try. Dutch slotted over the touchline conversion moving on the score to 5 – 26 with 30 minutes played.

Both sides now struggled to hold onto the increasing slippery ball, but there was still time for Manor to score one final try. It came from turnover ball inside Belsize Park’s half which allowed Manors forwards to drive hard into the tiring defence of Belsize Park, eventually from a ruck the ball was moved out to Manors backs where Horton spotted a gap in the defensive line, he darted through then raced away from 25 meters out to score Manors final try, Dutch added the conversion and the ref blew for fulltime with Manor deserved winners 5 – 33.

After the game Manor's Director of Rugby Mark Farrell said;
"Coming off the back end of four solid wins before the Xmas break, today was a good test to see if we could continue with the same impetus. Despite the sodden pitch and inclement weather, it was very pleasing to see our desire, tenacity and aggression was still just as strong!

The first half saw Belsize put us under pressure, their kicking game was decent, but we defended well and when we did get our chances to score, we took them. The second half was a far better half for us. Our big hitting defence started to wear our opponent’s down and with some hard running lines particularly from, BJ Tunde, Ogufere, Berry & Cosma, we got behind Belsize, enabling us to score some very well executed tries.

At this stage of the league every point counts and that was an important win for us today, Januarys fixtures come hard and fast, our focus quickly turns to next week as we host Chingford RFC at Nutter Lane."