Didsbury Toc H 13 – 44 Heaton Moor

With the weather taking a turn for the better, and Man City & Man United rescheduling their derby to Monday night to avoid the North Lancs & Cumbria clash the matched was watched by a large number of spectators.

As with much of the season Didsbury were without a raft of 1stXV players; last weeks starting backrow of Murphy, Foster, and Harrison were all absent due to a mixture of holidays, and a broken hand. Also missing was pacey centre Tom Makin, who’s tries since Christmas have been invaluable to the survival effort. But Didsbury again called on the experience and bulk of centres Dylan Williams and James Southall.
Heaton Moor, also under the threat of relegation, started well and after an early exchange of penalties the visitors scored the game’s opening try to lead 3-8. Didsbury had the upper hand in the scrums, except for one scrum where Heaton Moor managed to get the push on (but this was soon rectified at the reset scrummage with Didsbury regaining the ball). But the lineout wasn’t functioning at 100% and caused disruption to the home side’s possession. Heaton Moor scored two more converted tries before the break, and Didsbury reflected on a half that they defended for a good 30 minutes. (HT: 3-22)

Heaton Moor maintained the pressure in the second half scoring a further two tries, one from former Didsbury 3rd team centre Perkins. Perkins has shown that a move to a new club has brought his game on 100%, and has found a role best suited to his passing skills – a crash ball centre. Didsbury did show glimpses of quality in the second half, with the pack recycling possession and Dave Hoare scored two well taken tries, and was close to completing his hat trick but for a handling error with the tryline in touching distance.

The final score of 13-44 reflected the possession stats (particularly the first half), and Heaton Moor have to be applauded with the effort and performance they put in. It wasn’t many seasons ago that Moor were pushing for a top two finish in this league, and will take momentum into their last two league games as they look to get out of the relegation zone. Didsbury will look to next season and the fixtures that it may bring.