On arriving at the ground North were informed that the Aldwinians prop had been injured in the warm up and for safety reasons scrums would be uncontested. The opening 10 minutes of the game contain an extraordinary amount of handling errors and both front rows were probably relieved they did not have to push with the amount of scrums during this period. The lack of competitive scrum had clearly affected both teams and the opening stages of the match were poor.

North managed to open the scoring with a good try from Captain Gary Pugh on 15 minutes. Flanker Kev Green made a break with a powerful run into the oppositions half. Green released Pugh who had supported the break who then had a simple run for the try. John Eady converted to make it 7 – 0.

The uncontested scrums seemed to benefit North who in Ian Thompson, Kev Green and No. 8 Chris Taylor had a mobile back-row full of attacking threat and all three players helped themselves to tries before the half time break.

Thompson scored first after great work by hooker Luke Corrigan. Then Taylor set Green up to score his first try of the season after 35 minutes. Green returned the compliment on the stroke of half time to allow Taylor to run in from 25 metres. Eady converted all three tries and North had a comfortable 28 – 0 half time lead.

Young try-scoring sensation Steve Donoghue dominated the second half with a hat-trick of the highest quality. North’s back-line were beginning to click with half-time substitute Dave Garvey causing the home side problems every time he touched the ball. It was Garvey’s quick thinking that setup Donoghue’s first try. North were awarded a penalty on their own 22 and Garvey took a quick tap and raced into the oppositions half before releasing Donoghue who was simply too fast for the chasing defence and went in under the posts for the score. Eady continued his fine kicking to make it 35-0.

North’s backs again combined well to create Donoghue’s next try. John Eady broke the gain line before passing to Dave Vickers who showed quick hands to release North’s young winger to skip pass his marker and race to the try line for the score. A difficult kick was missed but North led 40-0.

Donoghue completed his hat-trick with a terrific try from deep inside his half. The try-machine collected the ball on his own 22 line with almost the entire Aldwinians defence in front of him. The winger began to pass defender after defender. The youngster’s power was as impressive as his pace as he was bouncing defenders off for fun before scoring in the corner. The conversion was missed but the score was 45-0.

Good work by Matthew Wallace and Lee Roberts allowed Flanker Ian Thompson to score his second try in reward for his impressive work-rate, and North led 52-0.

Aldwinians continued to battle despite the score-line and should have put points on the board after a concerted spell of pressure but North’s defence stood firm. North could also have scored more tries only for excellent defence, especially from the home full-back who made several try-saving tackles.

North Manchester did manage to go over one more time through centre Chris Hyland to leave the final score 59-0. The ECT Communication’s man of the match award was given to Steve Donoghue for his fabulous hat-trick.