North Manchester 1st XV entertained a strong Rochdale side at the Tudor Lodge last Saturday, with North looking for the victory that would maintain their position at the top of the league. North were without big second row Kev Green, but welcomed back fly half John Eady after his injury lay off last week.

Rochdale began the game strongly and were unlucky not to score in the opening 10 minutes. The visitors were camped on North’s line and would have scored but for excellent defence by Dave Vickers and Colin Meredith. On the 10 minute mark Rochdale were awarded a penalty 20 metres out, but the kick went just wide and the game remained scoreless.

After the penalty miss North then produced arguably their best 30 minutes of the season so far. Try machine Steve Donoghue set the ball rolling with another superb individual try. The ball was worked through North’s back line to winger Donoghue who collected the pass 10 metres inside his own half. The speedster beat his marker and raced away from the chasing defence to score under the posts. John Eady converted for 7 - 0. ,

8 Chris Taylor then scored an amazing 10 minute hat trick which showcased the attributes of his game. Taylor’s first come when he exploded through the line out and ripped the ball out of the Rochdale scrum-half’s hands. There was still a lot of work to do but Taylor held off several tackles before diving over the line for a converted try and 14 – 0.

Taylor’s second came after he supported an excellent run from flanker Lee Roberts. Roberts had exchanged passes with Matthew Wallace and had stormed deep inside the visitors half before releasing Taylor to score the try. Eady converted for 21 – 0.

Arron Duoba scored the next try with a 60 metre sprint from his own half. Duoba showed his pace to get away from the chasing defence and then powered through the Rochdale full backs desperate tackle to score in the corner. An excellent conversion by John Eady made the score 28 – 0.

North were playing really well and scrum-half Matthew Wallace and fly-half John Eady were seeing plenty of the ball and were punishing the opposition with their sound decision making and distribution. North’s next try was a strong contender for the try of the season and involved nearly all of North’s players. Arron Duoba caught a high kick deep inside his own half and raced towards his own 22 metre line. The ball was worked along the North back line to the left wing where Steve Donoghue broke into the Rochdale half. The youngster was tackled but Lee Roberts was on hand to continue the move forward. Roberts fed Eady who fired a pass to prop Dave McCarrick who broke through the tackle before off-loading to North Captain Gary Pugh. Pugh then passed to hooker Luke Corrigan who somehow managed to pass the ball out of the tackle to centre Chris Hyland who sprinted in for a wonderful try. Once again Eady converted to leave the score 35 – 0.

No 8. Taylor completed his hat trick with a trademark try from the back of a scrum. Winger Donoghue scored his second of the afternoon and eighteenth of the season just before half time with another 60 metre run which he was untouchable. Eady maintained his 100% kicking record to make the half time score 49 – 0.

The rain began to fall in the half time interval making conditions difficult for free flowing rugby. Half-time substitute Dave Garvey showed North’s supporters what they had been missing during his injury lay-off in the opening 10 minutes of the half with some brilliant defence and strong running. It was Garvey’s good work that set the next try up for Matthew Wallace. Garvey broke through 3 tackles in a run which took him from the half-way line to Rochdale’s 22 metre line. The strong centre was eventually tackled but scrum-half Matthew Wallace was there to continue the move and raced away to score in the corner. A difficult conversion was missed but North led 54-0.

Flanker Lee Roberts was having an excellent game and he created the next try with a powerful run which took him close to the visitor’s line. Roberts was tackled but was able to offload to Ian Thompson who dived over the line for a converted score and 61-0.

Rochdale showed what a good team they were by pinning North back in the closing stages of the game. Only excellent defence by Dave Vickers, Player-Coach Andy Donley, and prop Tony Donley meant the visitors were unable to score. North completed the scoring through No 8. Chris Taylor who scored his fourth try of the afternoon after breaking through several tackles to score under the posts. John Eady made it 9 conversions from 10 with the final kick off the game to make the final score 68-0.

There were many contenders for the ECT Communications man of the match award. Dave Vickers was excellent and was the catalyst behind much of North’s good work, but Lee Robert’s was given the award for an outstanding display from the flanker.