Manor travelled to local rivals Brentwood for their second league game of the season, both sides had enjoyed a reasonably comfortable win last week so Manor knew they were in for a stern test, especially as Brentwood’s sloping pitch is always difficult to play on and a great advantage to the home side. Yet again Manor blooded new players with Giovanni Dall’amico and Alex Leo both making their 1st team debuts.

Manor kicked off the game playing down the slope and soon exercised their dominance over their hosts with the forwards carrying well until they gave away a penalty allowing Brentwood to clear the initial danger and win a lineout close the halfway line. Manor pressurised Brentwood at the lineout and soon forced the mistake giving the first scrum of the day. The Manor pack got the nudge on and drove the Brentwood 8 back winning a penalty which they kicked into their opponents 22. With Jack Sullivan winning the throw in, quick ball allowed Manor to launch their backline, but their endeavour came to nothing as they were eventually bundled into touch.

The game continued with Manor having the large majority of possession, all inside Brentwood’s half, but were unable to unlock Brentwood’s well organised defence. Eventually Manor played for territory when Cameron Dutch put in a well judged kick deep into Brentwood’s 22 where the defender knocked the ball on when trying to pick it up. From the 5 meter scrum Manor again attacked Brentwood’s line, but were repelled and when play was stopped for a Brentwood scrum, an off the ball altercation involving Manors David Ogufere and a Brentwood forward resulted in Ogufere being shown a yellow card for retaliation as a result of a bit of skulduggery by Brentwood. This decision was greeted with loud cheers by the vociferous home crowd.

Brentwood kicked the penalty up field and won the resulting lineout but Manor turned the ball over allowing Tom Christopher and Alex Leo to punch holes through Brentwood’s defensive line before Dutch kept Brentwood pinned back with a fine kick that rolled out into touch 5 meters from Brentwood’s line. Brentwood won their lineout and tried to run the ball out but Manor turned the ball over and counter attacked through their backs with Aaron Lowe and Scott Smith both making ground before the ball was shipped out to Luke Watson on the wing, he set off along the touch line but was bundled into touch, the ref though had been playing advantage and Manor were awarded penalty 35 meters out. Dutch took a shot at goal but unusually for him his attempt missed the target. After nearly 20 minutes of play this as the closes Manor had come to scoring.

Manor were still on top and pressing inside Brentwood’s 22 where they were awarded a penalty 8 meters out which they took a quick tap and Lowe went for the line only to be stopped by a player not back behind the line and despite it being a cynical foul no card was shown. Again Manor tapped and went for the line but again good Brentwood defending repelled Manors attack eventually winning a scrum when Manor knocked on.

It was one sided traffic with Brentwood defending valiantly but eventually their line was breached when Manor attacked through their backs after good ground was made by strong forward runs, Lowe and Smith both took the ball up before Watson took possession, he looked to go back inside but instead passed to the supporting Dutch out wide, faced with three defenders he threw a massive dummy pass inside, stepped out towards the touchline and raced over in the corner for Manors first try which he converted himself, Manor at long last had some reward for all their possession and led 0 – 7 after 34 minutes.

Manor were sloppy at the restart turning ball over to Brentwood, this gave them their first real attacking opportunity of the half, aided by Manor giving away a penalty they found themselves 8 meters from Manors line with an attacking lineout. Manor competed and won the ball at the back allowing Callum McKie to kick the ball out into touch on the halfway line.

Although Brentwood still enjoyed some possession, Manor defended well eventually turning the ball over and launched their final attack of the half. Tom Christopher and Jack Sullivan linked well in attack before Ogufere barged his way into Brentwood’s 22 where he set the ball up allowing quick ball to go along Manors backline, here Dutch and McKie linked up before the ball was shipped to Lowe who ran through a space in the defence to go under the posts to score Manors second converted try of the match and although there was enough time for Brentwood to kick off the ref soon brought the half to an end with Manor holding a 0 – 14 lead.

Manors halftime discussions were lively and the team knew that they hadn’t taken their chances and would now have to up their game against a side who knew how to use the slope to their advantage.

Brentwood kicked off the second half and as expected Manor found themselves having to defend from deep, changes to the team were made as Elliott Brown replaced Jordan Sullivan-Warner on the wing and Brad Burrell was replaced in the front row by Damian Horton who was playing his first game back after initially having to retire due to injury nearly 4 years ago.

Although Brentwood had the lions share of possession and territory, Manor were having more luck in attack than Brentwood had in the first half, with good running by Brown and others, coupled with astute tactical kicking, Manor were at least making inroads into Brentwood’s half.
Manor were soaking up the pressure but giving away penalties which Brentwood tried to attack from, but could break down Manors defensive wall so eventually opted for a shot at goal. With the kick 10 meters out and directly in front of the posts it looked harder to miss than to score, but the Brentwood kicker managed to hook the ball to the left hand side of the posts and after 12 minutes of the second half the score remained 0 – 14 to Manor.

It wasn’t long before Brentwood’s pressure finally told, although Manors defence was still holding firm, Manor were giving away a number of penalties resulting in them losing a player to the sin bin. Eventually Brentwood decided to take the points on offer from another Manor infringement, this time their kicker successfully converted the attempt registering the home sides first points after 18 minutes 3 – 14.

The game ebbed and flowed with Manor having more possession in the opposition half but the majority of play was still inside their half. Their cause wasn’t helped by the loss of their flyhalf McKie to injury, Dutch filled in at 10 with Brown taking over at fullback. Still Brentwood attacked and after a series of strong forward runs they worked the ball along their line and making use of their man advantage they crossed the line for what was a 7 point score. With 25 minutes gone Brentwood were right back in the game at 10 – 14 and did look favourites to snatch a victory.

Manor continued to withstand all that Brentwood could throw at them and on a number of occasions turning Brentwood ball over at the breakdown with Leo at his jackaling best.

Gradually Manor began to take control of the game and worked their way up the park with Dutch and Dall’amico linking well to take play into the hosts 22. Manor worked their way towards the line until they were awarded a scrum. Here they drove their opposition back and with the ref playing advantage substitute Billy Morris drove off the base and went for the line, although stopped short he laid the ball back and it was moved out to Dutch who tried to dart through the defence but was stopped so the ref brought play back. Manor opted for another scrum, again they drove their opponents back towards the try line and as the Brentwood scrum began to break up the ref had no hesitation and awarded a penalty try, much to the disgust of the partisan home crowd. With less than 6 minutes to go Manor now held a commanding lead 10 – 21.

Manor continued to more than hold their own and in fact with a little more precision could have scored again after a searing break from deep by Scott set up a flowing move that took play into Brentwood’s 22 only for the last pass to go astray and into touch.

Brentwood gave it their all to try and get a losing bonus point and after kicking a penalty for a lineout close to Manors line, they won the throw in and set up a maul which the ref deemed was pulled down illegally by Manor’s Burrell so he awarded Brentwood a penalty try and sent Burrell to the sin bin.

From the restart there was little time left to play and Brentwood had no choice but to keep the ball in their hands, Manor defended and waited for the mistake, which soon came, allowing Manor to kick the ball dead and win the match.

Eton Manor DoR Mark Farrell said afterwards; “We made hard work of the game by being stuck in second gear throughout the first half, leading 14-0 at half time, played downhill, never felt enough. A stern half time talk from Head Coach Connors certainly made a difference as we upped our tempo & physicality in the second half. Brentwood were a difficult side to break down, & although they ran us close, our scrum dominance finally gave us a deserved penalty try to secure the victory.
We are a different side to the one that played in 2019-20, so far 8 new players have worn our colours in two fixtures & we still have more players returning next week. No doubt our training ground will be busy this week as we prepare to host second placed Belsize Park at Nutter Lane next week. “