Top of the table  Manchester 2s visited the woodlands on Saturday and came off second best against Fylde Wanderers. In wet and windy  conditions which made handling difficult the Wanderers brand of high tempo, attacking rugby saw them run out 36 8 winners.

Manchester kicked off into a stiff breeze and in the early exchanges showed why they are top of the table with some hard running rugby, led by their talented scrum half who tried to break at every opportunity. But it was the Wanderers who had the opportunity to take a lead on five minutes when they were awarded a penalty on the right, only for Mark Edwards to push it just past the left upright. However this woke up the Wanderers and the forwards began to exert pressure and on 12 minutes skipper Ali Atkinson scored a trademark try when he powered over, Ryan Miemczyk just missing the kick.

On 20 minutes Manchester must have rued only travelling with a bare 15 players when their outside centre pulled a calf muscle and had to come off. Fylde soon exploited this weakness when on 25 minutes outside half Miemczyk extended the score when he finished off an excellent move with a clinical finish. Edwards was unable to convert the score.

The Wanderers were now on top but their lack of discipline meant that they were not playing fluently and too many penalties meant they didn't extend the score for the remainder of the first half. At half time coach Graham Smith steadied the ship with some calming, incisive comments and within five minutes the Wanderers had extended the score when Ben Hall scored a fine try which Miemczyk converted.

Mike Doodson, who had looked dangerous on the right wing, had to come off due to a groin pull and was replaced by Fraser Spavin, but it was left winger Spencer Brennand who proved that the scoring habit extends beyond cousin Ollie when he scored a carbon copy Brennand special on 58 minutes when he cut in off the left and outpaced the Manchester defence. Miemczyk extended the score with a successful conversion.

By now Manchester had been reduced to 13 when their most dangerous player, their number 9, had to leave the field due to injury. However, they were down if not quote knocked out  when on 65 minutes from a 5m scrum they scored in the corner.

Spavin whose game only lasted one minute the week before was making up for lost time and showed fine skills when on 70 minutes he picked up a loose ball and  beat two defenders to score.

Skipper Atkinson who  had started the scoring completed it on 79 minutes when following some excellent interplay amongst forwards and backs  dived full length to score under the posts. Miemczyk converted the score to end the game with a convincing 36 points to 8 victory for the Wanderers.

There were a number of notable performances with Jonny Wilde and Ted Scott playing well in the front row, Andrew Rosen dominant in the loose and Atkinson and Dave Rees combative around the breakdown. Mark Briggs made a good comeback from injury as did Matt Thompson.

In the backs Hall and Miemczyk combined well at half back and Matt Gargett, Jack Ward and Edwards interchanged well in midfield. Wingers Doodson, Brennand and Spavin also looked dangerous. 

But man of the match goes to scrum half Ben Hall who probed the Manchester defence throughout the game and kept the Wanderers on the attack.

Next week sees another tough encounter with a tricky trip away to Macclesfield.

Report by Ian Cosh

Photos courtesy of Rees Tudor-Davies.