Manor made the long journey to struggling Norwich wary of the fact that they faced a potential banana skin against a side who have shown great heart in defeat and with Storm Arwen nibbling the edges of Norwich, Manor knew that anything could happen.

Norwich kicked off the game with bad light, rain and a gusty wind making playing conditions tricky at best. With the ball secured Manor took play to their opponents and after a couple of forwards runs the ball was moved swiftly along the backs to Jordan Sullivan-Warner on the wing, he cut back inside beating a few defenders in the process before the ball was moved back along the line, eventually Manor worked their way into Norwich’s 22. Here the attack looked to have come to a halt when it appeared that Norwich had turned the ball over. As their scrum half tried to move the ball the to his backs he dropped it, Manors hooker, Jon Berry reacted the quickest and kicked the ball forward into the dead ball area then won the race to dot the ball down and score Manors first try. Cameron Dutch couldn’t add the extras points in the difficult conditions, even so Manor had got off to a bright start leading 0 – 5 after 5 minutes.

From the restart Manor kicked the ball back to Norwich and under heavy pressure from Ire Onabajo the ball was taken into touch. Manor won their lineout and set about softening up the Norwich defence with powerful dives by Jack Sullivan and BJ Tunde before the ball found its way the to man of the moment Berry who was on the 22, he drove through the attempted tackles of two players and after dispatching them went for the try line, the last defender, Norwich’s fullback did his best to halt the rampaging Berry, but all he could do was slow him down and as he got near to the line Berry stretched out and scored a great solo try, again the extra points were missed, after 8 minutes Manor now led 0 – 10.

Norwich were soon back in the match when Manor tried to run the ball out from deep, but were stopped close to their line. A box kick was charged down by Norwich’s prop who fell on the loose ball to score what turned out to be a 7 point score. With only 10 minutes of the match played the scored had moved onto 7 – 10.

Manor controlled most of the play with Norwich finding it difficult to get their hands on the ball and trouble Manor. Berry almost scored again after Dutch fielded a long kick from Norwich then made 40 meters with ball in hand before winning a penalty. With a quick tap and go Jack Scorer drove the ball on before Nick Horton sent a Crossfield kick across the pitch to Berry who was lurking out on the wing. Unfortunately the wind took hold of the ball and blew it away from the clutches of Berry.

Norwich did now have some possession inside Manors 22 but try as they may, they couldn’t pierce Manors defence and eventually knocked the ball on. From the subsequent scrum David Ogufere powered off the base taking a couple of the Norwich players to eventually bring him down, with the ball set up it found its way to Dutch who from just outside his 22 evaded a couple of attempted tackles then sprinted the length of the pitch to score near to the posts. He added the extra points taking the score to 7 – 17 after 23 minutes.

Manor continued to press inside Norwich’s half and after winning a lineout Alex Leo and Scorer combined well to take play into the 22 and after a patient build up Jack Emerson broke through and looked to have scored only for the ref to deem that he had lost control of the ball.
Manor soon added to their tally when a patient build up saw Manor inside Norwich’s 22 and as the ball was moved swiftly through the hands Matt Kaye put in a great grubber kick in behind the try line and that man Berry, who was again hanging out on the wing, won the race to the ball scoring his hattrick try and Manors bonus point try. With the weather affecting kicking the conversion was missed although the scoreboard had ticked along to 7 – 22 with a few minutes of the half left to play.

Manors final try of the half came as a result of a high kick by Emerson which Manor chased and tackled the catcher inside the hosts 22, Berry got over the ball and won a penalty. Manor opted for an attacking scrum and drove the Norwich pack backwards allowing Ogufere to pick up from the base driving the ball forwards before feeding it out to his backs, Horton took the ball on and delayed a pass to Dutch which created a gap in the defence for him to dive over for his second try of the match, although unconverted Manor lead 7 – 27.

There was still time left on the clock and it was Norwich who had the final opportunity to score, from a lineout they set up a good driving maul that got close to Manors line, but Manor held the drive, stopping the ball from coming out, this was the final play of the half and both teams sought the sanctuary of the dressing rooms at half time.

Manor kicked off the second half and it wasn’t long before they added to their score, Emerson put a good kick into Norwich’s 22 for a defending lineout. Leo stole the throw in and set up a driving maul which, from 10 meters out proved unstoppable with Tunde credited with the score. The conversion was missed as the score moved on to 7 – 32 after 4 minutes of the second half.

Norwich came back into the game and had a good period of possession but couldn’t make any major inroads into Manors half.
Manor again upped the tempo turning ball over on the halfway line before their forwards drove into Norwich’s defence making good ground taking the attack into the 22. Here the ball was moved swiftly along the backline to Scott Smith who spotted a gap in front of him which he burst through outpacing the covering defenders and going over the line for another Manor try. This time Dutch was successful with the difficult conversion taking the score after 15 minutes to 7 – 39.

The light was fading fast and with the weather worsening play from both sides became scrappy with basic errors affecting Manors play. In fact Manor wasted another 3 try scoring opportunities where if the final pass had been better a certain try would have been scored.

Undeterred though, Manor continued to press, from a defending scrum Norwich tried to run the ball out of their 22 but couldn’t make any ground so chose to kick into the strong wind. Dutch fielded the ball on the halfway line and launched a counter attack, beating a couple of players before linking up with Toto Odulaja outside him, he then set off beating a couple of would be defenders and despite being tackled close to the line managed to stretch out and score his maiden 1st team try. With the score now 7 – 44 Manor continued their search for points as the minutes ticked away.

Manors next attack started from their own 10 meter line with good runs from Scorer and George Cosma they took play to the 22 where Kirk Chettleburgh ran a great line to split open Norwich’s defence, he raced towards the line but was stopped just short by an excellent try saving tackle winning the home side a defending scrum. From here Norwich were unable get any distance as they tried to kick the ball clear and it went into touch for a lineout to Manor 7 metres from the line.

Tunde won the throw in allowing Manor to drive towards the line and when the maul was stopped Scorer drove off from the back and was unstoppable as he went over the line for another try, this time converted moving the score on to 7 – 49 with a few minutes left to play.
Manors final try of the game came from an attacking scrum close to Norwich’s 22, Scorer again showed his power as he burst off of the back of the scrum taking a couple of tacklers to stop him, in the tackle he popped the ball to the supporting Emerson who went over the line for Manors final score of the game. With the conversion missed the ref blew for full time with Manor running out worthy winners 7 – 56.

After the game Manor’s D.O.R said “A strong performance away from home in quite difficult weather conditions. Really pleased with our patience in offence, we managed to get into shape effectively and with good unselfish play we scored a number of excellent tries. Mention to Jon Berry, not many front rows get to score hat tricks, let alone all within the first half.”
Fixture completed, we quickly focus our attention onto our next game at home to Harpenden who are on level points with us.”