Manchester 10 v Wirral 26.

Manchester were no dossers and they had their very own Bronze Bomber (8) but Wirral had their own Gypsy King for the day in Harry L, he may be more 5’7”and a bit than 6’9” and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t live in a caravan but he delivered the knockout punch when it mattered. It wasn’t bare knuckle fighting but it was bare 15s on the day. The ref summoned the captains for the toss and told them to get ready to rumble and to defend their lines at all times and come out fighting.
On a warm sunny afternoon in Manchester the game was played on an excellent surface. Wirral kicked off and it wasn’t long before the Bronze Bomber made a telling break through the Wirral defence, Wirral were on the ropes early, but quickly cleared their heads and began to grow into the game, they had the better of their opponents in the scrum and Ben was beginning to take control of the midfield with intelligent kicking.
On 16 minutes as Wirral had begun to settle Manchester’s 10 found space on the Wirral 22 and was able to move the ball wide right where the Bronze Bomber was waiting to gratefully receive and trot over to score near the posts, more of a strong uppercut than a knockout blow. 5-0.
Finding themselves behind Wirral were determined to make amends and on 19 mins the away side stretched their opponents right before switching play on the 22 and exploiting an overlap that saw Abe go over in the left corner .5-5. Unfortunately, Manchester lost their Bronze Bomber to injury and Wirral had to drop a player to match up. The rest of the half was uneventful and the ref rang the bell for Half time and sent the teams to their corners.
The bell sounded and It’s a mark of a good team that when the chips are down they come out fighting in determined fashion. Sam T had a strong game at 15 and carried the ball well out of defence whilst organising the makeshift back 3, one of his carries on 52 mins took him up to their own 15 where Wirral managed to set up a ruck and recycle efficiently to Ben who chipped cleverly into space and managed to gather his own kick near the half way line and gallop over. A tidy conversion to his own try 5-12. Wirral now had their opponents on the ropes and were growing further in confidence, another jab right on 59mins put Ellis into space with only the full back to beat, a great tackle thwarted Wirral but their intentions were now clear. Some strange decisions were beginning to go against the away side and when Wirral were adjudged to have entered a ruck from the side on 64 minutes Manchester worked a clever phase into the wide left channel and scored in the corner 10-12 , game on and this is the point last week where Wirral couldn’t find the answer , what a difference a week makes when on 66 minutes Tyson (Harry L) picked a great line and powered through a drift defence on the edge of the 22 and went over near the posts . Ben added the extras 10-19, Manchester rattled and given a standing count.
Wirral were now looking for the knockout blow and on 70 minutes Ben jabbed a perfect kick into the right corner from a quickly recycled ruck where Tyson gathered and delivered the knockout punch, again Ben added the extras and Wirral won a great game 10-26. There was no Paris Fury on the pitch at the end but I’m sure captain Robbo was seen planting a smacker on the cheek of Harry L at the end.
Well done to Manchester you were a credit to your coaching team, and well done to the Wirral boys travelling and playing with a bare 15, showing strength, belief and courage. Apologies to everyone for using the Tyson Wilder fight to shape this report and hopefully no one takes offence!!

by Jamie Kimpton