League Leaders North Manchester entered the last week of their season with a game against 3rd placed Burnage. North will have to play 3 crucial games in 7 hectic days which will decide the destiny of the League Championship. Fixtures with Stockport and Sale would follow the encounter with Burnage, a team which North had narrowly beat 10-8 earlier in the season.

The game opened at a frenetic pace with both sets of forwards contesting every ruck and maul with tremendous intensity. The opening minutes were dominated by the forward battle and both defences were thwarting any attacks. North opened the scoring after Burnage were penalised for coming in from the side of a ruck after North had launched the first threatening attack of the match. Fly-half John Eady pointed to the posts and duly dispatched a 30 metre kick to give the home side a 3-0 lead.

The lead seemed to settle North and the game opened up with centres Dave Garvey and Chris Hyland seeing a lot more of the ball. Inside-centre Garvey was becoming a dominant force in the game, and it was his powerful run from the halfway line which ended 10 metres from the opposition’s try-line that created the first try of the game. Garvey had smashed his way through several tackles and good support play allowed North to pass the ball out to scrum-half Matthew Wallace who found himself in the centre of the field. Wallace passed to prop Dave McCarrick who was tackled just before the line but North recycled the ball to allow try-scoring sensation Steve Donoghue to score in the corner and give North an 8-0 lead.

Burnage closed the scores with a penalty of their own to make it 8-3 after 25 minutes. Both sides were then reduced to 14 men after the intensity in the forwards boiled over. Burnage capitalised on the extra space available with less players on the pitch after taking a quick tap from a penalty which left North’s defence flat-footed and allowed the visiting scrum-half to dive under the posts and level the scores at 8-8. The Burnage kicker added the conversion and the visitors led 10-8. North added another penalty when John Eady converted a 35 metre kick to regain the lead and make it 11-10.

The match was fairly even but try-machine Steve Donoghue regained the lead for North. The winger received the ball inside his own half and sped along the touchline beating several desperate tackles before running under the posts for a brilliant try. John Eady converted to give North an 18-10 lead after an extremely competitive half.

North prop Dave McCarrick was injured in the first half and was replaced by Colin Meredith at half-time. Meredith’s good defensive work allowed North to extend their lead in the opening minutes of the second half. Meredith stole the ball in a maul and quickly fed scrum-half Matthew Wallace who raced towards the halfway line. Wallace threw out a long miss pass to winger Aaron Duoba who side stepped his way around four tackles in a 50 metre run that ended under the posts. Once again Eady converted and North led 25-10.

North centre Dave Garvey was having a fine game and created the next try for Matthew Wallace. Garvey made a powerful run deep inside the oppositions half before offloading to Wallace. The scrum half threw an outrageous dummy which left several defenders flat-footed and allowed him to go under the posts for a score. Eady converted and North held a commanding 32-10 lead with 25 minutes remaining.

Burnage demonstrated why they are third in the league with an excellent 10 minutes of attacking rugby. North captain Gary Pugh and back row of Kev Green, Ian Thompson and No. 8 Chris Taylor were excellent during this period of pressure but Burnage scored a deserved try after taking a quick penalty capitalising on North’s temporarily unorganised defence. The conversion was missed but Burnage had closed the scores to 32-15.

North came back to dominate the final 15 minutes and once again it was Dave Garvey who powered through the Burnage defence. Garvey broke the gain-line before passing to fly-half John Eady who spotted Chris Hyland running a typically devastating line to score under the posts for a converted try and 39-15. Centre Garvey, who had been North’s best player, was injured in the build up to the try and was forced to leave the field.

Flanker Ian Thompson scored the final try of the afternoon after supporting a run from second half substitute Lee Roberts, who was extremely impressive during his time on the pitch, and went over in the corner for the score. The conversion was missed but North won 44-15.

North had overcome the first hurdle of their final week triple bill with an excellent victory over a good side. The only negatives were the loss of man of the match Dave Garvey, and prop Dave McCarrick who face a race against time to be fit for the remaining crucial fixtures of the season.