Northern Uproar

Toc H welcomed North Manchester to Ford Lane, looking to avenge the reversal that took place during the away game between the two teams. On that day, North were full value for their win, but Didsbury were left to reflect on one of their poorer performances in recent years.

Despite only arriving shortly before kick-off, North started the stronger of the two sides, sending their big forward and midfield runners into the teeth of the Toc H defence, and only good organisation and last-ditch defending kept them out. Having been on the back foot for the first 15 minutes, Didsbury’s pack, along with half-backs Sam Wallis and Gaz Oakley, began to establish better field position and started to wrestle the game back from North. Toc soon realised that by playing a looser, more mobile game, they were able to get away from the arm-wrestle that their opposition were seeking and as soon as Didsbury started going through the phases, they had the beating of North in most areas of the pitch.

So it was that, following a period of pressure, a high-hanging cross-kick from Oakley was fielded expertly by Enita Okodiko, who dotted down for his 14th try of the season. Conor Crow, who kicked well all day and had an excellent all-round game, was unable to convert on this occasion, but Toc were on the front foot and soon after, Sam Wallis ran a great support line to be the beneficiary of a blind-side break by wing Dave Hoare, to touch down on his first appearance of the season. Further tries followed for back-rowers Mark Harrison and Aidan Murphy, the former crashing over under the sticks after a period of pressure, and the latter following up his own charge down, to take the half-time score to 22-0, with a bonus point already in the bag.

Despite a collective commitment to maintain momentum at the start of the second half, sin-binnings to Harrison (for a team offence) and Martin Oldfield (for an hideous high tackle – one of the worst things ever seen on a rugby pitch by this correspondent), meant that Toc H again spent the first 15 minutes of the half firmly on the back foot, and only highly committed defence kept North Manchester at bay.

Restored to a full complement, Didsbury surged again, led by some rampaging charges by the front row of Mike Hyde, Tim Trapp and Tony Ames, along with second-row Phil Dodds. First, some excellent work in midfield by skipper Tom Makin, inside centre Chris Craig and full-back Crow, allowed Dave Hoare the space to race in at the corner. Hoare, who had flown in that morning from a skiing holiday and looked about as mobile as the QE2 (not to mention being on the verge of throwing up), was again the beneficiary of a clever midfield pass from replacement fly-half Neil Wilkinson and went over the whitewash for his second. Shortly after, he was on the end of a pass from Wallis and then stepped his way through the tiring North Manchester defence for his third and fourth tries of the half, taking his tally for the season to 18 in 10 games. Crow’s good kicking form continued, taking his tally to 10 points for the day, and Didsbury’s total to 50.

All in all, a decent day at the office for Didsbury and credit must go to North Manchester, for a gritty, doughty performance – they never gave up and showed themselves to be a handful, when on the front foot and we wish them well for the rest of the season. Didsbury travel to Oldham in two weeks and will know that they need to step up their performance still further, if they are to halt the progress of the runaway league leaders. However they also know that on their day, they have the players and game to beat any team in this league. Roll on the last third of the season!

Photos from the game can be viewed on the following site, courtesy of Fryer Foto:
http://www.photoboxgallery.com/fryerfoto/collection?album_id=3174087375