Manchester Go Top!

Match Report by Matthew Miles

You could’ve been forgiven for thinking that we were watching a tennis match in the first 10 minutes as play swung from one half to the other. However, it was the Manchester supporters making a ‘racket’ as Harry Lewis spotted a gap in the visitors defence to score after 16 minutes. The ever dependable boot of Will was at hand (or foot) to claim the extras to make it 7-0.

Manchester were now in control and the home team’s dominance appeared to be too much for the visiting linesman who was relieved of his flag waving duties after an exchange of words with the Ref.

On 30 minutes Manchester pressed home their advantage thanks to Harry once again. As Penrith tried to clear their lines ‘H’ first charged down and then touched down to give Will an easy conversion. 14-0 at half time.

7 minutes into the second period and we saw why Penrith were in second place in that morning’s league standings as the home team’s backs found themselves outnumbered out wide. 14-7 after the conversion.

Could Penrith mount a concerted fight back? Fortunately not for Manch who controlled the remainder of the match thanks largely to their dominance at the set piece. The scrum was looking more and more rock solid as the game went on and Jake was also looking imperious at the line out, steeling Penrith ball on more than one occasion.

However, it wasn’t until the 64th minute that the Academy side made the game safe. Several try opportunities were butchered until Jake rumbled over from a quick tap penalty. Will converted to make the final score 21-7.

All in all a good day’s work despite the attempts of both touch judges to steal the limelight - a certain home flag bearer doing a very poor Tom Daley impersonation late on to add to his household’s laundry.