Manor travelled to second placed Sudbury knowing that their unbeaten record was going to be seriously tested. On the day, a combination of ill - discipline, injuries including a badly broken leg and opposition playing at the top of their game ensured that Manor were well beaten.

With Sudbury kicking off they were soon into their stride causing Manor to defend against hard running forwards and well drilled, dangerous set of backs. Manor were penalised a couple of times for offences around the ruck allowing Sudbury to work their way into the 22 and win an attacking lineout. From here the home side controlled play probing for weaknesses until they eventually went over the line for their first try which was converted giving them an early 7 – 0 lead.

From the restart Manor competed and turned the ball over allowing Kirk Chettleburgh, Tom Christopher and Scott Smith to all make good ground before a knock on resulted in the games first scrum. With Sudbury holding Manors drive, the ball was cleared into Manors half where they were again penalised of an offence on the ground. Sudbury won their throw in and moved the ball quickly along their backline eventually going over in the corner. The conversion was missed but after only 8 minutes Manor found themselves 12- 0 down.

Sudbury continued to have the upper hand although Manor were getting into the game, from a long kick up field by Sudbury, Cameron Dutch gathered the ball taking it 25 meters back up the park before feeding Jordan Sullivan-Warner who took on and beat his opposite number on the outside and stepped past a couple of defenders before passing back inside with Dutch taking up the attack deep inside Sudbury’s 22, only for the ref to bring play back for a forward pass.

Manor were now enjoying a period of pressure inside Sudbury’s 22, winning an attacking lineout through the returning Jack Sullivan they set up a driving maul but Sudbury’ s No 6 came round the side to stop it illegally and got 10 minutes rest for his troubles. Another lineout was taken this time Christopher securing the ball setting up another maul which couldn’t be stopped as it powered over the line with the returning John Berry accredited with the try. Dutch saw his conversion attempt go just wide although Manor were now back in the game at 12 – 7 after 25 minutes played.

Play now took place in and around the middle of the park until Manor gave away another penalty. During play Manor’s centre Aaron Lowe was injured had had to be replaced by Freddie Harries who was making his second appearance after a protracted time away from rugby due to injury, unfortunately things didn’t go to plan for him.

After being on the pitch for a couple of minutes he eventually got his hands on the ball as he attacked from inside his 22 taking the play up the park, he was tracked and eventually caught by the Sudbury centre who tackled him and took him to the ground. As he did so a loud cracking noise reverberated around the ground accompanied by a yell of pain from Harries, play was immediately halted as the Sudbury player attended to Harries who was obviously badly injured. The game was suspended for 40 minutes to allow Harries to be tended too and eventually taken to hospital with a double fracture to his leg. We all wish him well on the long road to recovery.

When play did restart Manor had to shuffle their backline around, with no recognised back available Chettleburgh went from the scrum into the backline with Babajidi Tunde coming off the bench into the pack. The final 9 minutes of the half were played out with Manor doing the majority of defending but managing to stop Sudbury from adding to their tally.

Manor started off the second half with renewed vigour putting in their customary big hits knocking Sudbury back in the tackle. Their cause was further hampered when they lost Brad Burrell to injury with George Cosma replacing him.

Sudbury got back into Manors half and another good break saw them almost score in the corner, but the attacker was knocked into touch. At the lineout Manor gave away a scrum but they got the better of their opponents driving them back and winning a penalty. Nick Horton took a quick tap and go setting up an attack from deep inside is own half, he weaved through attempted tackles before Smith continued the attack, he in turn fed Sullivan – Warner who took play on 30 meters before linking up with his forwards. After a couple of powerful driving runs by the forwards Luke Watson got hold of the ball 35 meters out, evaded the first tackle and outsprinted the covering defenders eventually going over the line between the posts. Dutch added the extra points and after 15 minutes of the half Manor were now level 12 – 12.

Sudbury soon hit back after a box kick by Horton was fielded by Sudbury’s No 8, after making ground he fed his centre who took advantage of Manors inexperienced backline with a good running angle to go over under the posts and with the conversion successful they were back in the lead 19 -12.

Things now started to go badly wrong for Manor, from the re-start Giovanni Dall’amico won the ball and sent it along Manors backline but Sudbury’s No 8 anticipated a pass and intercepted the ball, ran 15 meters before freeing one of his backs who took the ball over the line to score. The conversion was missed but Sudbury had moved into a comfortable 24 – 12 lead.

Manor almost hit back straight from the restart winning a penalty and kicking for a lineout inside Sudbury’s 22. With ball secured Manor drove close to the line before breaking off and going over the try line only for the ref to award a penalty to Sudbury.

Sudbury again capitalised on Manors inexperienced backline scoring from a mistake, then Manor soon lost Dall’amico and in quick succession Sullivan, to the bin.

With Manor down to 13 players Sudbury soon added to their tally now leading 38 – 12 with 10 minutes to go.

Manor continued to fight and took the attack to Sudbury but with reduced numbers couldn’t break through the hosts defences. Sudbury kicked up field where a ruck was formed and as Chettleburgh went to clear players out of the ruck his shoulder accidently caught a Sudbury player in the head. Although there was no intention, player welfare is paramount giving the ref no option but to show a straight red card. Manor were now down to 12 players.

With such reduced numbers on the pitch Manor did well to restrict Sudbury to only one further score as they outflanked Manor using their numerical advantage to go in at the corner to end up eventual winners 43 – 12.

After the game Manors D.O.R Mark Farrell said ‘Losing is never easy, but this is a tough league and it’s a very long season, it would be naive to think we would go a whole campaign without losing at some point. With only three subs, injuries can derail a side very quickly and we saw that today.
Despite our heavy loss, I was glad to see that we stuck together throughout and after the game, it clearly showed that this squad is strong in its conviction and united in its determination.