Match Preview

This Saturday we welcome Manchester for our second home game of 2019.

Manchester are currently comfortably mid-table having won eight, lost eight and drawn one of their 17 games.
They won their first four home games, the highlight of which was edging out high-flying Douglas by a single point, 20-19, and, a fortnight later, winning a close match against Anselmians 33-31 at Cheadle Hulme in mid-October.

It was our first chance to win a game in North One West and, whilst two bonus points were welcome and the result lifted Saints off the bottom of the table, the team, again, missed opportunities that could have given them a victory.

Manchester started 2019, on January 5th, by scoring an eye-watering 87 points against Penrith who, themselves, managed 39 points. In 17 games, they have not failed to score a try.

Before meeting in North One West, we last played Manchester when they won the South/Cheshire Division 1 in 2016-17. In September and December 2016 respectively, we were defeated away 20-63 and, in the return at Eastham, we went down 10-41.

Last week’s visit to table topping Carlisle was, to say the least, encouraging after our previous displays against high-flying Blackburn and Stockport, but the coaches and the players are under no illusion about the standard required in level six.

Manchester play an attractive, open game similar to the Saints, and, while it has been tough thus far, Anselmians and their supporters feel there is sufficient quality and resolve in the team to overcome their inconsistent form and periodic lapses of concentration and register their first win of the new year.