Manor welcomed high flying Harpenden to the New Wilderness this week knowing that they were in for a tough game against opposition who were equal to them on points in the league.

Harpenden kicked off the game and Manor soon showed that they were up for a scrap as their forwards drove hard into their opponents making enough ground to allow Nick Horton to box kick up field. This allowed Harpenden to have their first bit of possession where they tried to run the ball at Manor but were met by solid determined defending which resulted in the ball being turned over allowing Toto Odulaja and winger Ire Onabajo to combine well taking play just past Harpenden’s 10 meter line before being taken into touch.

From Harpenden’s lineout Alex Leo stole the ball which allowed David Ogufere to set off on his first rampaging run of the match breaking through tackles as he took play to the 22. Manors forwards were in close support and after another couple of powerful drives the ball was moved along Manors backline eventually reaching Jordan Sullivan-Warner out on his wing. He jinxed inside the first defender then as 2 defenders converged on him, he looked to have been tackled on the 5 meters line but somehow he still managed to power forwards eventually stretching out and placing the ball over the line for a great try. Cameron Dutch was successful with the touchline conversion and after 6 minutes Manor had taken a 7-0 lead.

Play was fairly even at this point with Harpenden making good ground but when they did manage to break through Manors well organised defence Odulaja came hurting across the field and put in an excellent tackle taking the player into touch. From the lineout won by Leo, Manor attacked through their backline where fullback Dutch, who had joined in the attack, sent a crossfield kick into the pathway of the sprinting Sullivan-Warner who just saw the bouncing ball evade his clutches and go into touch with open field in front of him.

With 15 minutes played there hadn’t been a scrum in the match, that was all to change when in attack Manor knocked the ball on close to halfway. With both packs engaged and Harpenden with the put in, the Manor 8 destroyed their opponents driving them backwards, splitting apart their scrum in the process and winning a penalty. Manor chose to take another scrum, again driving the Harpenden scrum back allowing David Ogufere to drive off the base taking a number of defenders with him before feeding the supporting Odulaja who took play into the visitors 22 before linking up with Onabajo, he then sprinted to the line and was stopped just short, with Harpenden appealing for a knock on Odulaja picked up the ball and aided by Leo went over the line. The ref who had a fine game, had been a short way behind play and gave a knock on, photos would later show that he may have been hoodwinked by the Harpenden appeals. At the scrum, Manor keen to continue their set piece dominance were a little eager with their drive and were penalised.

Manor were in the ascendency but all too often gave away needless penalties keeping Harpenden in the game. In fact it was the visitors who were the next to score, it came from a great run by their right wing who managed to jinx his way through a number of tackles on his mazy run towards the try line and although eventually brought down a few meters short, Harpenden quickly recycled the ball and went over the line under the posts for a 7 point score levelling the score at 7 all after 23 minutes.

Manor competed at the re-start eventually winning a scrum close to Harpenden’s 22, here again after a great drive Manor were awarded another penalty at the scrum. This happened twice more then on the third occasion Manor drove the scrum back close to the try line and with Harpenden collapsing the ref awarded a well deserved penalty try, 14 – 7 after 30 minutes.

Manor kept up the pressure running at Harpenden whenever they could, with time running out they searched for the opportunity to increase their lead. This came after some more powerful work from Manors forwards with Jack Scorer, BJ Tunde and Kirk Chettleburgh all carrying well taking Manors attack into Harpenden’s 22. Here the visitors defended well stopping Manors momentum 15 meters out as the ball went to ground and a ruck formed. With the ball available Dutch went to the back of the ruck and got his hands on the ball, he went to attack the open side then changed direction going blind, catching the Harpenden defenders napping. He then had the pace to round the left winger then stepped inside the covering fullback and raced for the line stretching out as he dived over the line for Manors 3rd try. He was unsuccessful with the following conversion attempt as Manor stretched their lead to 19 – 7 with 5 minutes of the half left to play.

Manor still controlled the game and Harpenden’s cause wasn’t helped when their fly half was yellow carded for a high tackle but this was soon evened up when Manors Ogufere was yellow carded for a no arms tackle.

The rest of the half was played out with Manor in control but unable to add to their tally.

Manor kicked off the second half, Harpenden started off the better of the two sides as they showed why they were sitting near the top of the table. After a free flowing move, they worked space out wide and set their winger free into space, as he raced into Manors 22, Onabajo covered from the opposite wing a put in a crunching tackle stopping a possible score. Harpenden didn’t panic and built up the phases again but Manor defended resolutely holding the ball up over the line for a goal line drop out.

Harpenden again attacked inside Manors 22, but again they were met by solid defending which ended with David Banfield getting over the ball at a ruck and winning a penalty.

Harpenden did gain some reward for all their effort when they were awarded a penalty 40 meters out, in front of the posts which they chose to take a kick at goal, the attempt was well struck going through the posts to reduce the deficit to 19 – 10 after 10 minutes of the second half.
From the restart Manor were awarded a scrum, again the Harpenden pack were penalised and another scrum penalty was awarded to Manor, this happened twice more and it was somewhat surprising that further sanctions weren’t used against Harpenden. Manor pounded Harpenden’s line where Onabajo, Ben Boulton-Smith and Scorer were all stopped close to the try line.

Manors next attack stemmed from another scrum penalty which this time Manor kicked to touch for a lineout. Leo won the throw and with ball off the top Scott Smith made a good break down the middle of the park before Horton sent a kick forward which bounced close to the tryline, substitute Ale Minns chased the ball and put pressure on the covering defender who knocked the ball forwards only for his team mate to pick the ball up from an offside position. With a penalty awarded Manor opted for an attacking scrum. Here Scorer powered off the back and was stopped just on the line and as he tried to feed Chettleburgh, the ball went forwards and a defending scrum was awarded.

Yet again Manor destroyed Harpenden’s scrum and won a penalty. Taking another scrum, the inevitable happened and Manor were awarded another penalty try extending their lead to 26 – 10 after 26 minutes.

Harpenden again came back at Manor showing good game management firstly using hard running forwards, then their backs to test Manors defence. After constant pressure Manors defences were finally breached and Harpenden scored their second converted try of the match to reduce the deficit to 26 – 10 with time up but a fair bit of injury time to play.

Harpenden were ending the game strongly and after Manor gave away a couple of penalties, Harpenden opted to take a shot at goal from 25 meters out to get within 7 points to gain a losing bonus point. Unfortunately for them the attempt missed.

The rest of the game was played with Manor controlling the ball and with a scrum being the final play, Manor won the ball and after a bit of juggling managed to get the ball into touch to end the game.

Eton Manors DoR Mark Farrell was rightly a very happy man after this commanding league victory.
“I felt this was the best performance of our league campaign to date; we showed patience & a cutting edge in our offence and a gritty determination in our defence. The foundations of the win were easily created as our pack completely dominated this game from start to finish, in particular our scrum shoving their rivals backwards at every given opportunity.

We certainly have momentum right now and we are becoming a much more cohesive team rather than just a collective group of gifted players. But we are a grounded squad, we still have a lot of work to do, even with this five point league win, we felt we left 20 points out there today and with some attention to detail in this weeks training, we will focus on putting things right before travelling to pre season promotion favourites Colchester RFC next week. “