Earlsdon RFC

Professional Earlsdon put Manor Park to the sword

Earlsdon produced a commanding home performance to defeat Manor Park 47–12, continuing their excellent start to the league campaign with a second successive victory.

After the opening-day win away at Berkswell & Balsall, Head Coach Jon Fitt had challenged his players to produce a more controlled and accurate performance. The focus during the week had been clear: improve the structure through the middle third, allow the leadership group to dictate where the game was played, move Manor Park’s big and aggressive pack, and be ruthless when opportunities appeared.

The response was emphatic.

Earlsdon took control from the opening stages and produced an outstanding first-half display, combining physicality with intelligent game management. Rather than being drawn into a narrow battle around the breakdown, the home side looked to move the point of attack, find width and force Manor Park’s forwards to repeatedly work across the field.

Fitt was particularly pleased with the maturity of the performance.

“I was delighted with how professional we were in the first half. We spoke all week about our leaders controlling the game and making sure we played in the right areas of the pitch. I thought we did that exceptionally well.”

The pressure quickly translated into points, with Earlsdon demonstrating the clinical edge that had been demanded during the week.

Will Hayward led the scoring with two tries, while the strength of the collective performance was underlined by tries for Nat Hall, James Wickham, Rickie Birtley, Oli Jones and Jack Tague.

Tague enjoyed an excellent afternoon from the tee as well, converting six of Earlsdon’s seven tries and finishing with an impressive 17-point personal haul.

With six different try scorers, the 47-point total demonstrated the variety of threats Earlsdon are beginning to develop.

Fitt added:

“What pleased me was that the points came from across the team. We weren’t relying on one individual or one way of scoring. We created opportunities in different areas and, particularly in that first half, we were ruthless when those opportunities came.”

There were still lessons to take from the second half. With the scoreboard firmly in Earlsdon’s favour, the performance became less controlled and Manor Park were able to find some reward of their own.

That will provide another challenge for the squad: learning to maintain the same standards regardless of the score.

“There are definitely things we’ll look at. We became a little less accurate once the game was effectively won, and good sides don’t allow the scoreboard to dictate their standards. We want to become a team that can produce that level of control for 80 minutes.”

The victory also highlighted the increasing competition within Earlsdon’s senior squad. Selection had been extremely difficult during the week, and Fitt has consistently stressed that any success this season will be built around the entire playing group rather than simply the starting XV.

“I’ve said from the beginning that individuals won’t win us anything — the squad will. Nobody owns a shirt at this club. You earn it and then you’ve got to perform to keep it. The competition we’re beginning to create is exactly what we need.”

Two matches into the campaign, Earlsdon have now shown two different sides to their game: the resilience required to win a difficult opening fixture away from home and the attacking quality and control to produce a convincing victory on their own ground.

There is plenty still to improve, but 47 points, seven tries and six different try scorers represents another significant step forward.

“We should enjoy winning because league victories are hard earned. But this is only the beginning. The challenge now is to keep raising our standards. We want teams to know that when they come to Earlsdon, they’re going to have to produce something special to beat us here.”

🔴⚪ FULL TIME: EARLSDON 47–12 MANOR PARK

Tries: Will Hayward (2), Nat Hall, James Wickham, Rickie Birtley, Oli Jones, Jack Tague
Conversions: Jack Tague (6)