Moor move into top half after victory

HEATON Moor entertained Isle of Man based Vagabonds for the third home game of the New Year and picked up another five points to get them in to the top half of the table.

The game was to be played in fairly benign conditions.

However, heavy overnight rain ensured the pack would be doing plenty of scrummaging with a slippery ball.

Moor came out of the blocks quickly. A well timed offload from second row James Ellis found the dangerous Perkins Joseph who screeched away down the left, scoring 10 metres in from the touch line.

The game then settled in to a pattern of the Moor forwards building the phases and applying plenty of pressure.

Solid defence from the Manxmen prevented any further scores until the 25th minute when a short, mazy run from stand-in stand-off Chris Ogden Smith saw him dot the ball down for an easy conversion for himself close to the posts.

That signalled the start of a purple patch which saw Moor put the game to bed with four tries in a halcyon 15-minute period.

The pick of the bunch saw back row Tom Ireland as the benificiary of a beautifully dextrous off load from brother Sam.

This was then followed by a solo effort from full back Matt Hughes.

With the Moor tails now up and the forwards putting their marker down, there then came the moment of the game.

When Jack Pipe hit a short ball hard it looked for all the world that he would go all the way but after 11 yards he simply ran out of steam but still managed to win a penalty that saw Mike Ingham tap and go to score to extend Moor’s lead to 32-0.

With the half drawing to a close the visitors managed a period of pressure close to the Moor line that was met by equally good defence from the men of the Moor.

Prop Sam Ireland led the way with three tackles in 30 seconds that looked like it would be good enough to keep Vagabonds out, but one pick and drive too many saw the dam break to see the visitors pull the score back to 32-7 at the interval.

The second half commenced with Moor quickly back in to the driving seat with No 8 Will Pacey forcing his way over.

At that point it looked like the flood gates would open but full credit to a spirited Vagabonds side who worked overtime to ensure Moor would have to work for their rewards.

On 55 minutes came another short-range try after a series of dropped balls close to the Vagabonds line that was finally picked up by Moor prop Dan Durber who proved unstoppable.

Moor finished with three more tries, one of which was a solo effort from No 8 Pacey courtesy of a 20 metre run.

Tommy Ireland then bagged his second before Matt Hughes closed proceedings with a try in the corner that saw him draw the last two opposition defenders after a scything run but instead of offloading to a support runner he turned a walk over the line for a team mate into a desperate scramble that would have left plenty of explaining if he’d butchered it!

All in all a great performance from the Moor boys, 10 tries in any game is no mean feat and full credit to Vagabonds who plugged away all afternoon with little reward.