TWO sublime counter-attacking tries from Aaron Willis and Dan Joyce lit up this otherwise stodgy local derby. Atherstone held a 10-point lead with 20 minutes to play thanks to immense work from their pack and dead-eye goal-kicking. But Manor’s ability to score tries from nowhere robbed the visitors of a win they so nearly claimed at the death after yet more sterling forward play. Willis was the first to make inroads breaking brilliantly from inside his own half and the ball was quickly recycled presenting Luke Powell with space and Stuart Davey in support but he was stopped by a solid tackle. A loose scrum and two penalties conceded gave Atherstone a chance to kick to the corner, a solid take at the lineout and three close range attempts to score were bravely repelled before the score was achieved after two minutes of forward work. The try was converted. Manor knew victory could push them to third in Midlands 4 West South and set about evening matters with a sustained spell of pressure in the opposition’s 22. Penalty after penalty were conceded before Joyce eventually opted to take the easy three points on offer. A smart kick from Atherstone’s lively scrum half was thwarted by a late block from Willis and, after initially going to his pocket, the official saw common sense and rightly awarded only a penalty. The same player dusted himself to slot over a tricky penalty to restore a seven-point lead. Soon after Atherstone could also count themselves lucky to retain a full complement of players as prop Chris Goode’s foray forward was thwarted by a swinging high tackle from a back-tracking defender. The penalties were coming thick and fast in Manor’s favour as quickly recycled ball was persistently prevented by a combination of failing to roll away from the tackle, handling in the ruck and illegal entry. Joyce capitalised on one such transgression with his second penalty strike, but missed two subsequent efforts to deny Manor a lead at the interval. Kicking up the slope and with the wind in their faces, Manor lost Michael Douglas to a gaping facial wound which left the second-row spewing blood from the mouth and hospitalised, unfortunately the cause of the injury went undetected and Michael Kemp entered the fray in his place. It was Atherstone who scored next when a simple penalty strike was notched over to once again restore a seven-point lead which was extended to 10 points soon after with a far more difficult penalty kick. Penalties which were trickling in Manor’s favour soon became an avalanche and Atherstone lost their blindside flanker as a result of his team’s collective persistent infringements in their own 22. Atherstone box kicked to halfway where Davey spilled into touch, the resulting throw fell for Sam Haslam who popped to Aaron Willis. Sensing a chance to break, the number eight sprinted blind showing two defenders a clean pair of heels to eventually touch down for a converted try. The scores were levelled when Joyce notched over a penalty with 20 minutes to play. It was one-way traffic as Atherstone haemorrhaged penalties, which Park bizarrely turned down in kickable positions sensing a score which was prevented by heroic try-line defence. But no amount of valiant, committed defence could stop the game’s final score. From a scrum on the Atherstone 10-metre line, Joyce powered through to score a try worthy of settling any rugby match. The same player missed the conversion meaning a converted try could still earn a victory with less than 10 minutes to play. And they so nearly managed just that with a 20-metre rolling maul which ran out of steam five metres from the line, a dart over the whitewash was held up by Joyce and from the final play Atherstone knocked on to prompt the final whistle and bring to an end a gripping derby match. Victory sees Manor go within five points of second placed Ledbury ahead of next weekend’s trip to Birmingham Civil Service. | 
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