Manor welcomed Leighton Buzzard to the New Wilderness this week keen to extend their winning run before having a week off from league matches. Although the clubs were at opposite ends of the table, Leighton Buzzard had been competitive in all their games and with the forecasted bad weather due to hit at kick off time Manor weren’t taking anything for granted. As in previous weeks Manor were able to hand league debuts to Ire Onabajo and Matt Kaye.

Leighton Buzzard kicked of the game and had the better of the opening exchanges. They kept possession well and looked well drilled but they were struggling at scrum time where Manor had the upper hand. Manor were being kept inside their half by some good tactical kicking from the visiting fly half who was using the strong wind behind him to good advantage. It was no surprise when Leighton Buzzard opened the scoring after winning a lineout close to Manors line, they secured quick ball which went out to their fly half who jinked his way through Manors defences to go over the line under the posts. He added the extra points himself and after 5 minutes Manor found themselves behind 0 -7.

Manor soon hit back when Leighton Buzzard kicked the ball into Manors 22, it was collected by Elliott Brown who set off on a counter attack, out pacing the covering defenders and took play into Leighton Buzzards 22 when he was eventually tackled but with Manor there in numbers, they won a penalty which they kicked for a lineout. Tom Christopher secured the throw in and after a short drive Manor moved the ball out to Ben Bolton-Smith who was stopped short of the line, another couple of drives saw the ball moved out wide to David Ogufere who powered over the line taking three defenders with him. Cameron Dutch was successful with the conversion from out wide and with 10 minutes played Manor had drawn level.

Play now became centred around the middle of the pitch with neither side playing the worsening conditions well, but eventually Manor built an attack from a scrum on their 10 meter line allowing Ogufere to break off the back and after beating a couple of defenders, forwards and backs combined to work the ball into Leighton Buzzard territory where Dutch kicked deep into the oppositions 22 where the defence knocked the ball on. From the scrum, Manor again drove the opposition pack backwards allowing Ogufere to again break off of the back, but was stopped a few meters short of the line, George Cosma picked and drove but was met by strong defence, the ball then found it’s way to Nikoloz Abramishvili and despite the attentions of two of his opposition front row he had the strength to drive forward and place the ball on the line for Manors second try, Dutch converted and the score moved on to 14 – 7 after 22 minutes.

Leighton Buzzard kicked the ball dead from the kick off and from the scrum on the halfway Manors forwards upped the pace making a number of good driving runs through Kirk Chettleburgh, Badajidi Tunde and Cosma, the ball was then moved out to Dutch who changed the direction of attack and with quick passing the ball was shipped out to young winger Ire Onabajo, he was faced by two defenders but backed himself and went for the corner, dancing along the touchline he powered through the covering defenders and managed to stretch out and dot the ball down in the corner. The ref and linesman consulted and the ref disallowed what later looked to be an excellent try.

Undeterred Manor continued to control the game using their forwards to good affect making ground and attacking inside Leighton Buzzards 22. An attacking lineout was awarded to Manor 10 meters from the line. Christopher secured the ball and Manor set up an unstoppable drive over the line where Christopher was accredited with the score. Despite the conversion attempt being out wide Dutch again slotted over the extra points and Manor now led 21 – 7 after 35 minutes.

Manor were soon back on the attack and again it stemmed from an excellent break by Brown from deep inside his half, he beat a number of players as he travelled 45 meters up field where the ball was taken on by the forwards, unfortunately Manor gave away a penalty allowing Leighton Buzzard to relieve the pressure.

Undeterred Manor were soon back inside Leighton Buzzards 22 winning a couple of penalties where they opted to take a scrum and ram home their set piece dominance. On the second scrum Ogufere picked up off the base and drove through the defence and dotted the ball down, only for the ref to decide that he had lost the ball forward, another decision that could have gone either way.
Manor continued to press inside the visitors 22 but good defence kept them from scoring for the rest of the half.

Manor started off the second half they way they finished the first, in the ascendancy, but the weather had worsened making any sort of free flowing rugby very difficult. It didn’t take long though for Manor to add to their tally, from a defending scrum 8 meters from Leighton Buzzards line, Manor drove forward causing the ball to shoot out of the back of the scrum, Chettleburgh was quickest to react, pouncing on the loose ball, Manors forwards joined him, secured the ball and after a couple of drives Ogufere powered over the line for another Manor score, this time the extra points weren’t added, 26 - 7.

Manor went straight back on the attack, with the re-start secured Nick Horton sent up an excellent box kick, Dutch jumped highest winning the ball then good interplay between Jordan Sullivan – Warner and Brown eventually saw the ball taken within 10 meters of the try line, with their forwards quickly in support the ball was fed to Dutch who spotted a gap in the defence, he drifted through the gap and although tackled managed to reach out and score. The conversion was missed but Manor had extended their lead to 31 – 7 with 10 minutes played.
Manor made a number changes to their line up and it took a while for the them to settle in to the game. This allowed Leighton Buzzards to enjoy some possession and parity in the scrum and during this period after keeping possession well, Leighton Buzzard went over in the corner for their second try, this time unconverted, it reduced the deficit to 31 – 12 after 30 minutes.

Manor upped the tempo again and a good break by Kaye from deep inside his half saw play move into Leighton Buzzards 22 where Manor were awarded a scrum, again Manor won the scrum and despite a number of drives couldn’t break the Leighton Buzzard defence, eventually a knock on turned possession over allowing the visitors to kick the ball up field.

Manors last score came as a result of an attacking lineout on the 22. With the throw in secured Jack Scorer drove powerfully forwards taking three defenders to bring him down, recycled ball was moved swiftly out to Onabajo on the wing, again he had it all to do but from 15 meters out he powered towards the line, taking 2 defenders with him as he dived over the line for his debut try. The touchline conversion was successful and Manor had scored their last points 38 – 12.

With time still left on the clock and the ball like a bar of soap, Leighton Buzzard attacked and Manor were unable to hold onto the ball as they tried to run the ball out from their own line, Leighton Buzzard were quickest to react to the loose ball, picking it up and going over for their third try which was converted.

There was still time left for some play, but conditions made it almost impossible to string together any constructive plays and it was a relief when the ref brought a halt to the game with Manor victorious 38 – 19.

Director of Rigby Mark Farrell said “Full credit to the players today for the character they demonstrated in appalling playing conditions. Despite the weather, we still managed to score 6 very well executed tries.

This side learns more about itself every week, the understanding & connections between players are becoming more frequent, more evident in how we adapt our strategy & play our rugby, but I still believe there is much more to come. That said, 5 Wins from 5 games & joint top of the league is a good place to be as we go into our break week, although we realise the next set of fixtures will be against much tougher opponents, the first of which is a home game v Southend RFC on 16th October.

Our clubs strength is within its playing depth, which is the strongest it has been for many years. Two weeks running we have put out 4 full sides with subs, that’s 77+ players pulling on a Manor shirt! 17 full fixtures played with 14 wins & only 3 losses.”