Didsbury Toc H 3s continue their winning streak

The Threes made it 4 wins from 4 fixtures last Saturday after a keenly fought battle against the Village Spartans ended 27-22.

Sometimes, games can be won or lost at the warm up, and for a time Toc threatened to be the masters of their own downfall when a slow practice led to a lax attitude for the kick off. A lot had been made of the battle of the packs for this fixture, and the Spartans certainly had the best pack the Threes had scrummaged against in two seasons. Winning own ball and putting a lot of pressure on the forward unit, unfortunately the competition was brought to an end due to a dislocated finger for Toc hooker Dan, which ended contested scrummaging.

A well worked try from a rolling maul by Ed Jessop gave Toc a bit of breathing space, but were immediately put under pressure by Spartans back line, who ran strongly all game – their 10 a particular thorn in the side of Toc- crashing over after a dash from the halfway line to level the score 5-5. The Spartans continued to press, their extra desire and training showing as they were thwarted more often by their own handling than by Toc defence. An ankle injury forced Threes talisman Tom Pinney off for a break, with winger Stu Campbell making a fine addition to the back row – playing well with Shez and Skippy, putting the Spartans under pressure at the breakdown. A further try apiece added to the scoring, and could have been more, had Toc not produced frantic and smothering defence on the last play of the half to go into the break 12-10 down.
With water taken onboard and a stiff Joe Arthur motivational lecture ringing in Toc’s ears, the Threes went back out with more conviction, Rob Weedon at 5 and Tom Shorten in the centre making strong runs into space and offloading well, although support was often too slow in arriving to capitalise – the ref pinging both sides for holding on the floor. Toc movement forward was punishing, but excellent running from Rob Eatough, George Wilkinson, Paul Petrie, Tom Shorten and Ritchie Bray (who completed the difficult - and dick of the day worthy - feat of an outside of the hand pass to his winger AND moments later to a waiting Spartan defender) pushed Toc up-field, for Ed to score and earn a dick of the day nomination for missing an easy conversion.

The humidity was taking its toll, and the game opened up accordingly as both sides wilted. After a breakaway try was excellently finished by Shez under the posts, the Spartans rallied and scored two in quick succession, taking the score to 22-15 in the final 10 minutes.

A quick brace of tries from Rob Eatough proved decisive, his second a particular jem, beating three defenders on his way to the line for the decisive try earning Toc the win, and himself the honour of downing a pint as man of the match.
An exceptionally hard fought win on the road for Toc Threes, but one which shows that with hard work, results can be attained against 2nd and 1st team quality opposition. It’s also rewarding to see the quality of player that we are now able to field each week throughout the club, and we can now look forward to a weeks recuperation before welcoming Helsby 1st’s to Ford Lane.