Toc's final game of 2019 and a good send off for Platty

Toc H 1st XV 15 – 3 Aldwinians

Toc H 1st XV moved to fourth in the ADM Premier Division with a hard-fought win over Aldwinians at MMU Platt Lane on Saturday.

It doesn’t seem to matter what the conditions are doing when these two sides meet, they always produce tight contests.

And this one was no different, with Didsbury coming out on top thanks largely to another stellar defensive performance.

Pleasingly for the home side, they gave an athletic and dangerous Winnies side nothing and they ended the game without a try.

There was a tinge of sadness going into the game.

This was to be a final run out in the black and amber for winger Ben Platt, who has been an integral part of the side’s development and improvement over the past few years.

A very popular member of the squad, he is off to Newcastle to advance his engineering career.

There are plenty of rockets in Newcastle, so there is no doubt that Platty will fit right in.

But, in the immediate term, the prospect of him leaving on a defeat, as well as a sombre Didsbury Dozen Christmas party to negotiate that evening, provided ample motivation for Toc going into this one.

Winnies quickly showed why they are one of the better teams Toc has faced this season.

Combative at the breakdown, organised, a good attacking platform, a scrum unrecognisable from last season’s and a willingness to play with some ambition, meant the game had the right balance of aggression and tempo from the off.

The fast conditions helped both sides in an attacking sense – with Ford Lane still suffering the effects of flooding, Winnies agreed to play this game at Platt Lane.

It seemed to suit them – but their ill-discipline in the first quarter provided some welcome relief for Toc at crucial times, who took a bit of time to get into their stride.

Slowly, they started to get on top and, as ever, commanded a lot of the ball and territory.

Both sides looked solid defensively, so any half-gaps Didsbury seemed to create were quickly shut down.

What also didn’t help was Toc H’s ball retention in the opposition 22.

It was poor and saw them spurn a number of good scoring opportunities through their own carelessness.

In contrast, their play in the middle third was aggressive, accurate, full of intent and gave Winnies lots of problems.

Winger Rory Gibson skipped through on the short side to open the scoring shortly after Toc had turned down a penalty in the front of the posts.

Winnies, meanwhile, took their shot from in front and narrowed the gap to two points, which that’s how it stayed until half time with Toc putting together some impressive and pacey passages of play.

Toc’s lineout – led by James Howarth and Andy Alexander - was exceptional and provided a steady stream of quality ball. They were also putting Winnies’ ball under pressure as well, so unusually for Toc they were more than comfortable with the ball being out of play.

In the second half, Toc had a significant breeze at their backs.

Their plan was to use it to relieve pressure, kick chase more and then to choose more direct options when close to the opposition line.
They also stepped up the aggression in defence, which went from containing the opposition to clattering them. Some big shots went in. Some of those were marginal.
The work rate of hooker Harry Jones was once again eye-catching, particularly as he’d only got to bed at 5am following a work Christmas party.

He wasn’t the only one - you know when some of the boys are struggling when they are lying on physio benches asleep when everyone else is getting changed ahead of the warm up.

Fortunately, within 20 minutes of the game starting, they were all hiding their hangovers pretty well.

One hit on the Winnies’ full-back from Jones certainly left its mark. Captain Harry Rigby, centre Jack Akrigg and second-row Ben Oldale were also by now firing on all cylinders, as was flanker James Plested, on for injured second-row Owen McIntosh, who eventually earned himself ten minutes in the bin for a high shot.

“Do you think that was yellow? He fell into it,” Plested asked.

“Yes. And no he wasn’t,” replied coach Jamie Peacock.

There can be no complaints – from a Toc perspective the refereeing performance was the best all season in terms of consistency.
With Plested in the bin, he home side had to finish the game with 14 – and Winnies piled on a lot of pressure in that time.

By this stage, with ten minutes to go, Toc had added a very useful ten points to their half-time score.

Fly-half Seb Sheratte had come shortly after the break and soon after that banged over a penalty from the half-way line, and after an excellent attacking move down the left, in which Platt was instrumental, Toc managed to power over from close range through Akrigg. Sheratte casually clipped over the conversion.

A big defensive effort from Toc in the dying minutes saw them successfully keep Winnies at bay.

After a slow start to the season, during which the team underperformed, the 1st XV have finished 2019 on a high.

And with the club’s 2nd XV flying high in their league there is much to play for in 2020.