Manchester fall short in tight game

What I don’t understand is how Wythenshawe is so difficult to get to. Having travelled with the 1st team in a testosterone glazed convoy of cars, we discovered that the referee didn’t know how to get there, despite instructions. With little time left, a replacement was organised who also didn’t know how to get there, despite instructions. Before we plough into this report on the second team’s difficult loss to Lancaster, can I make an appeal to every would-be ref to get him or herself a smart phone, as the majority of them have GPS and will easily navigate you from Great Cockup, a mountain in Cumbria, to Chipping Sodbury in Bristol. Just because we ain’t professionals, we still don’t want our Wednesday thugfest taken away.

Anyway, Manchester vs Lancaster at the Armitage. With sunny conditions and a gusty wind to contend with, the University of Manchester 2nd team took on what was to be a very well-drilled Lancaster side. The first opening few minutes confirmed a huge effort was required when only heroic tackling prevented a much larger Lancaster team from scoring an early try.

Manchester made good use of their first phases of possession by making scything runs up the middle and pegging Lancaster down in the corners with some elegant kicking against the wind. Against the tide of play, Lancaster made the first breakthrough on the ten-minute mark by demonstrating some great offloads out the tackle and committed support play at the breakdown.

For the next twenty minutes a battle of midfield attrition saw neither side being able to break each other down with the forwards of both teams failing to gain an upper hand. Throwing wide passes was risky with the wind but a few minutes to go before half time, Manchester demonstrated superior skill when Guy Michels received a long pass on his wing and scooted round his opposite number in the corner.

Lancaster were definitely the team looking forward to the break most out of both teams because Manchester had raised their game up a few gears and looked the team most likely to score. However, after the second half got underway Manchester let themselves down by letting in another early try. This gave Lancaster a great deal of confidence and they peppered away at the Manchester defensive line whilst Manchester showed more brilliant defence. With Manchester once again building momentum, they hit back through a great try by Mike Price and with twenty minutes to go, there was only two points in it and everything was to play for.

Lancaster showed little composure in attack but managed to extend their lead through a third try which was immediately answered with another try from Mike Price who put on a great solo effort from the half way line to score again in the corner. It seemed that Manchester could answer all the questions asked by Lancaster but with the final ten minutes looming, Lancaster scored two quick tries.

Manchester tried in vain to overturn the deficit and spent the last five minutes camped on Lancaster’s try line thanks to some remarkable turnover tackles and astute decision making. However, Lancaster held on frantically and managed to seal a very hard fought win, which could have seen either side come out on top.

Team coach Andy Connaughton said at the end of the game, “We are desperately disappointed we didn’t win this game. I feel like we really deserved it but that mad few minutes at the end cost us. We need to look at where we went wrong and learn from these mistakes because they are the simplest but the most costly”.

Team captain Ben Ratcliffe lamented, “Fair play to Lancaster, they played well but I feel like we were the better and fitter team. Unfortunately for us we let in a couple of soft tries and that is all that matters.”

The University of Manchester Men’s Rugby League Club would like to thank their sponsor Walkabout for their continued sponsorship of the club.