Wythenshawe vs Didsbury Toc H 3rd XV Saturday 8/2/2020
After a good week of training and getting a good match day squad together, Wythenshawe had every reason to feel confident of a good performance and result.
Within 10 minutes of kick off Didsbury Toc H had ran in three tries making it 15 nil as they had missed all three of the conversions. At this point it looked like it was going to be another bad day at the office, but as Didsbury started another attack Lewis ‘I’m Big Now’ Fearon hit Didsbury’s Thor, the smallest player on the pitch took down one of the biggest. A few phases later there was a try saving tackle by Jack ‘Quite Boy’ Cobane. From the resulting 5 meter scrum, Wythenshawe won the ball and was kicked clear, but straight into the hands of the Toc H Full Back, who was under pressure from Lewis who had chased up his own kick however he missed the tackle. The Full Back then ran forward attacking the Wythenshawe line, as he ran towards the edge of the pitch through a dummy pass to his supporting invisible winger which was bought by the Wythenshawe defenders allowing the Full Back to step through the gap and ran to score under the sticks. With the easy conversion it was now 22-nil to Didsbury Toc H.
Just before the end of the first half, Wythenshawe had started to put some plays together and pressure which resulted in a few penalties going in their favour, as Wythenshawe spread the ball Lewis grubber kicked the ball through the Toc H defence, which he pounced on by to score and start the revival of Wythenshawe. The conversion was made by Nathan ‘Bellyrina’ Leigh. The half ended 7-22 in favour of Didsbury Toc H.
The second half started and after a 15 minute tug of war with both teams showing good attacking and defensive work, it was Didsbury who final got the score board rolling again as they spread the ball from one side of the pitch to other before they scored in the corner but they missed the following conversion. 7-27
As Toc H attacked again Lewis made a great covering tackle which caused the ball to pop out and Jake ‘Quiff’ Farrell was finger tips away from intercepting the ball and running threw to score...it wasn’t to be.
Five minutes later a Wythenshawe line out saw the ball thrown to the back to Reece ‘Milky’ Cleary who ran forward forcing his way forward before being tackled, the ball was recycled by the pack, and the ball was spread to the right and recycled again before Adam ‘Lips’ Mcloughlin stepped through and scored under the posts. Which made it an easy conversion for Nathan to score and make it 14-27.
Wythenshawe would score again but as I was called away I didn’t witness it, I was later told that Paul ‘Will play anywhere’ Reeves scored from a simple two on one situation. But the conversion was missed. 19-27.
Wythenshawe had started to believe that they could win and had the momentum, but Toc H changed that and scored instantly as Toc H Thor ran across the pitch before passing to the supporting winger to score in the corner which meant they would miss the conversion. It was now 19-32 with 10 minutes left and Wythenshawe regrouped and sent an instant reply to Toc H that the game wasn’t over, Wythenshawe had a line out which was won, the forwards recycled the ball before the backs released Ashley ‘Cap’ Williams who ran hard and on the angle who passed out the tackle, and then ended up in Adam ‘Lips’ Mcloughlin hands as he fought off three defenders to score in the corner. Which meant that Nathan had a difficult kick, which he missed. 24-32 in Toc H’s favour.
As Wythenshawe went looking for the points to keep the come back alive, Toc H had the ball and once again spread the ball to the wing to score in the corner, and once again they missed the conversion making it 24-37, and that turned out to be the last play of the game.
Some points of the game Reece ‘Milky’ Cleary got bounced big time as he went to make his first tackle, and then in the second half he got patted on the head like you would pet a dog, and got put down again as he went to tackle. I really wish we had video evidence of it.
Lewis ‘I’m Big Now’ Fearon made some great hits during the game, as well as scoring a try to cap an excellent performance, but Man Of The Match went to Adam ‘Lips’ Mcloughlin, who playing in the pack in the 2nd row, as well as scoring 2 tries and strong attacking work and solid defensive work.
Wytheshawe who are still looking for their next win to help secure survival in division 4 east. They travel to Bowden to take on their 3rd XV who we beat in the earlier fixture at the start of the season, a good week of training and if we play the way we played for the final 60 minutes of today’s game then we have every chance of getting the win. The game kicks off at 1415 on Saturday 15th, get down and cheer on the boys.

Sean ‘Beanie’ Fogarty