St Benedicts 43 - 36 Didsbury Toc H

Toc H were caught cold off the coach, some sloppy tackling led to two quick tries for St Benedicts and a 14-0 lead. Didsbury were able to respond quickly and good hands in midfield allowed Hoare the sniff of a gap to finish in the corner. Bishop added a fine conversion from out wide

Didsbury were unfortunately immediately turned over from the restart and the St Benedicts fly half ghosted through a gap on the blindside to score in the corner. Conversion missed, 19-7.

Steve McDonagh was then the beneficiary of a good forward drive from a lineout to touch down, before Bennies scored a further converted try to lead 26-12 at the break.

Some strong words from coach Papoola at the break lead to a fine start to the second half from Toc H, when swift hands followed a superb break by James Southall and allowed Dave Hoare to finish in cornber. Bishop's conversion fell short and the game was back on at 26-17. Didsbury, whose defence had improved significantly were then undone by two excellent pieces of play by the St Benedicts 10 - a half break and well-timed offload led to the big centre crashing over and the same player was the beneficiary of a deft chip by the outside-half.

At 40-17 with 25 minutes to play, Didsbury were staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat, but a feature of their season has been achieving four-try and losing bonus points when things look lost. So it was that a consistent period of possession led to the realisation that Toc H had the beating of Bennies outwide and two further blistering finishes from Hoare bookended a typically powerful scoring burst from Southall. Bishop added two further conversations and suddenly the score was 40-36 with 5 minutes to play. Didsbury pressed hard for a winning score, however a turnover in midfield led to a penalty chance for St Benedicts, which relieved fly-half subsequently converted to end the scoring and the match.

Didsbury will reflect on a poor first half performance that led to them having to chase the game, but credit should go to St Benedict's, who never let the visiting team settle until after half-term. Credit should equally go to Didsbury, whose second half performance led to two bonus points on the road and an acceptable return from a tough fixture. It's this never-say-die attitude that has all but cemented a mid-table position in a tough league, which is a fine achievement following last year's promotion.