Manor welcomed an inform Amersham & Chiltern to the New Wilderness this week looking to get back to winning ways. Injuries and unavailability gave them the chance to give full first team debuts to scrum half Toto Odulaja and from the bench Jake Kane.

Amersham kicked off the game and after securing the ball Manor and had the better of the early exchanges, using their forwards to good effect they worked their way up field and when the attack slowed down Cameron Dutch put a probing kick into Amersham’s 22, but it was well fielded by the defence and a long kick back saw Manor knock the ball on the halfway line giving the first scrum of the day to Amersham. At the scrum Manor took one against the head allowing the ball to get moved along the backline where Jordan Sullivan-Warner made ground then fed the supporting Jordan McDonald who burst through a couple of tackles and when taken to ground set up quick ball for Nick Horton to pin Amersham back with a good kick into the visitors 22 for a defending lineout.
Jack Sullivan stole the lineout allowing Manor to move the ball along the line and just when it looked like Manor had created an opening the ref stopped play for a head injury to McDonald who was on the ground after receiving a boot to the head.

The game restarted with a scrum to Manor which they were awarded a penalty at which they kicked for a lineout 8 meters out. Tom Christopher took the throw in and Manor drove towards the line, it was brought down to ground and as Manor moved the ball out wide the ref stopped the game and came back to an incident where the ruck had gone to ground. As a result he red carded George Cosma and his opposition prop, after 12 minutes both teams would play the rest of the game with 14 players.

Manor continued to press inside Amersham’s 22, with the visitors giving away penalties, Manor wanted to keep the pressure on so kicked for attacking lineouts. Unfortunately Manor’s lineout malfunctioned giving possession back to Amersham. From here they gradually worked their way up the park and from their first real attack of the game they won an attacking scrum and moved the ball swiftly along their backline creating space to go over in the corner and round to close to the posts. With the conversion successful Amersham had taken a 0 – 7 lead after 20 minutes.

The score buoyed the visitors and it was their turn put pressure on their opponents, with Manor having to defend deep inside their half. The pressure was eventually turned into more points when from another scrum Amersham moved the ball out wide and went in at the corner for their second try, which although unconverted, took their lead to 0 – 12 after 28 minutes.

Manors play was sloppy with too many basic errors allowing Amersham to control the game and have the best of the attacking opportunities. They won an attacking lineout inside Manors 22 and set up a series of drives but Manor won a penalty after isolating the ball carrier which allowed them to clear the danger.

Manor now had a period of possession inside Amersham’s half and from an attacking lineout inside the 22, Jack Sullivan won the ball and it was moved quickly along the backline where David Ogufere made the hard yards before feeding the supporting Dutch, he jinked his way towards the line and although brought down just short he stretched out to reach the line only to see the ball knocked out of his grip and into the hands of a defender who kicked the ball clear and into touch. From the resulting lineout on the 22, Tom Christopher won the ball which was shipped out to Ben Bolton-Smith to crash up the middle, the ball was again quickly recycled out to Jordan Sullivan-Warner on the wing and he went over in the corner only to be brought back for an earlier forward pass. The ref had been playing a penalty advantage and with a quick tap and go Manor pounded Amersham’s line until Sullivan went over for Manors first score, which although unconverted brought them into the contest at 5 – 12 with time almost up.

Manor again went to sleep and allowed Amersham to get their hands on the ball and after a series of forward drives their centre broke through a couple of tackles to go over for another try, which was converted increasing their lead to 5 – 19.

With time to restart neither side looked like scoring again as the half drew to a close, Manor then got into a team huddle where a few choice words were said about their abject first half performance.

Manor kicked off the second half and were soon attacking inside Amersham’s 22. Amersham were awarded a defending scrum 15 meters out which they secured and tried to attack from the base, but Manor were strong in the tackle, turned the ball over which gave Sullivan the opportunity to bash through a couple of tackles before feeding Dutch who sprinted clear of the covering defenders to go over the line by the posts. He added the extras from the conversion and after 5 minutes of the second half Manor had reduced the deficit to 12 – 19.

Although Manor were in the ascendency sloppy play again gifted Amersham an attacking opportunity when Manor tried to attack from deep, knocking the ball on in the process, Amersham gathered the ball and after a couple of drives found a way through Manors defence to score their bonus point 4th try which was converted taking the score to 12 – 26 after 8 minutes.

Manor hit back almost immediately when they challenged at the re-start and as Amersham tried to run the ball Sullivan isolated the ball carrier and won a penalty which was kicked for a lineout. Sullivan won the throw in allowing Manor to set up a driving maul, which at one point looked to have stalled but Manor got it going again eventually driving Brad Burrell over for the converted score, 19 – 26 after 12 minutes.
Amersham hit straight back, after winning a couple of penalties, they chose to take a shot at goal which was successful increasing their lead by more than one score to 19 – 29 after 20 minutes. Manor now upped the intensity challenging the kick and putting pressure on the ball carriers, not allowing Amersham to get out of their 22. Manor eventually turned the ball over and drove it back at their opponents winning a penalty for not releasing the tackler. Dutch took a quick tap, feeding Scott Smith who darted through a gap and when tackled he managed to stretch forwards scoring another Manor try. Dutch was successful with conversion from out wide and Manor were now within touching distance at 26 – 29.

It was all Manor now and after they secured the re-start Smith made a great break down the middle of the pitch before Ogufere and Alex Leo had powerful runs before Horton put a kick deep into Amersham’s 22 for a defending lineout. Manor soon regained possession and kept up the pressure using their forwards to drive into Amersham’s defensive line, after a few powerful runs the ball was sent along the line to Sullivan-Warner who zipped down his wing before kicking the ball ahead into the dead ball area for hooker Jordan McDonald to chase. He showed great speed and strength to get to the ball before the covering Amersham defender. It was initially uncertain if he had in fact got the touch down but the ref awarded the try and later photos showed that it was a good decision. The conversion went just wide but with 5 minutes of the match to go Manor had taken the lead for the first time 31 – 29.

Manor secured the deep restart and a good box kick by Odulaja took the ball into Amersham’s half where it was knocked on. From the resulting scrum Manor again attacked looking for another score. Odulaja and Leo linked well to take play into Amersham’s 22 before Dutch went for the line, but was stopped short. Although the visitors took possession big hits by Sullivan and Babajidi Tunde made sure that they didn’t make ground and eventually they kicked to touch for a Manor lineout. Here they launched their backs with Kane running a good line to take play towards the 22 before Sullivan–Warner took the attack on. Manor now closed in on the line where Burrell was stopped short but Amersham were penalised. Horton took a quick tap and sent a 25 meter cross field kick into the waiting arms of Leo who ran in unopposed for Manors final try. With Dutch successful with the kick from out wide the score had moved on to 38 – 29. There was time to restart the game and time for Manor to give away a kickable penalty, but Amersham were unable to take advantage, with the kick going wide the ref blew for fulltime.

After the game D.O.R Mark Farrell said ‘If ever there was a game of two halves, we saw it today! An indifferent first half, fractured by indiscipline, and poor execution allowed the opposition to gain a well deserved lead at half time. But today was not about a perfect game of rugby, it was about energy, pride, fight and hanging in there! just competing until the end, today we did all that. If you do those things you give yourself a chance to win and today we took it”.

Man of The Match was awarded to Prop Brad Burrell.

Next week Manor travel to 2nd place Shelford knowing that they need an improved performance to come away with a positive result.