Didsbury Toc h 3rdXV 89 - 0 Manchester 4thXV

A wet cloudy afternoon at Manchester (well what else are there in the North West?) is where Didsbury Toc H Third team gathered to try to build on last week’s impressive win against Aldwinnians.
The match marked the return of Captain Sam Churchill to the team after Vice Captain Frasier Buchanan had taken the duties the week before. Spirits were high but there was some trepidation. Manchester are a very good side and after we beat them in a preseason warm up they wanted revenge.
Last week’s success had seen many players moved up into the second team so the pack was quite different to the week before. But with the loss of players came the addition of some experienced players to make sure we followed on from our win the week before. Hooker, Ewan Aidar was adamant that through hard tackling, team work and discipline within the pack we would be victorious. Stalwart 3s player, Tom Pinney, who was able to keep morale high during the dark days of last season, returned to his favoured position of blindside flank.
The match started the way it would continue all game with Toc H dominating Manchester’s forwards and forcing scrum after scrum. In fact you could not count how many scrums there were in that first half. Toc H more than held their own with Frenchman Cancel and ex-colt Josh Holding in the engine room and new player Shan at prop. The platform made by the forwards allowed Richard Massingham, returning to the number ten shirt, and Aiden Jones at scrum half to dominate, and the opposition didn’t know what had hit them. An outstanding run by debut Josh at inside centre released the ball to the ever present Paul Petrie at outside centre who dodged the Manchester defence to place under the posts. Toc H were simply too strong for Manchester in all departments. This set the tone. A mazy run by Leigh Ware at Flanker managed to escape tackles from at least three Manchester players, and a nice release to Paul and another try it was. Mark Williams, 4th team Captain, was able to run at the opposition and with blistering pace, scored his first (of three) tries.
The second half saw some substitutions with Field replacing Crabtree (who is recovering from a serious neck injury) in the front row and new recruit Guy Johnson coming on. Ex colt Mason moved to the wing in place of new player, American “smash em man” Harrison. And regular 3s player Josh libberton made his way onto the pitch to fill the vacant flank position. The match stepped up as Manchester, who played the game with dedication and determination, started to tire. Paul added to his already high tally, leading him to score a total of 7, yes 7, tries. Late changes as Frasier replaced Mass at 10 and Ware moved to 15.
A mention must go to Manchester who never gave up all game and were it not for a very strong Toc H defence would have scored quite a few tries.
All in all an outstanding performance by Toc H 3s with many players stating a case to move up the teams. We have Rochdale at home this week and hope to continue our great start to the season.