Esher dazzle stunned Manchester in final home game of the season

The lovely spring weather was outshone by a dazzling performance by the National One champions.

The spectators were treated to a host of tries in an extremely one-sided match that saw Seb Jewell score six of Esher's 21 touchdowns.

Manchester got the game under way but kicked straight into touch, so play resumed with a scrum on halfway with Esher’s put-in.

The scrum was won by Esher and Andrew Garner broke up the right-hand side, making 10 yards before being tackled.

The ball was recycled slowly and the forwards started to make in roads through the Manchester defence.

From the base of a ruck, the ball was fed out to the wide left for Charles Baumberg to dot down for the first of Esher’s tries.

The conversion was missed by Jewell. With one minute gone, the score was Esher 5 Manchester 0.

From the restart, Manchester again kicked long and, from the scrum, Esher again broke down the right, however, this time Manchester forced a turnover and half cleared their line.

After a good passage of play, Esher scored their second try through Simon Gaynor. The ball was recycled from the base of the ruck just outside the Manchester 22, and was fired out to Jewell, who ran a line from left to right, jinked past the Manchester defenders and pop passed the ball to Gaynor, who scored just to the right of the posts.

Jewell again missed the conversion.

Manchester kicked the restart short but the ball was retained by Esher. The ball was quickly moved to the backs, who were stretching the Manchester defence across the pitch.

From a ruck, Garner passed flat to his right, where Paul Barker collected at pace and broke through the gainline and made 10 yards, then offloaded to James Tubasei, who was tackled 10 yards from the Manchester tryline.

The ball was recycled quickly and was passed along the backline till it hit the wing, where Shawn Renwick was waiting to easily trot home from five yards to score Esher’s third try of the match.

Jewell missed the conversion from out wide on the right, and the score was 15–0 with only six minutes on the clock.

Esher retained the ball from the restart and again went straight to the backs, however Jewell knocked on and the ball was kicked forward by Manchester’s Dave Lewis, who appeared to be winning the race to collect and possibly score but Jewell cynically tackled him without the ball.

The officials got together, the penalty was given and Esher were lucky to still have 15 men on the field.

Instead of kicking the easy three points Manchester, much to the joy of the crowd, decided to run the ball but they were unable to breech the Esher defence.

From a Manchester lineout, Esher scored the never-in-doubt bonus-point try.

Manchester won their ball but, as they started to mount an attack through their backs, Richard Coskie’s pass was intercepted by David Sleman, who ran in from 30 yards unopposed to score underneath the posts.

Jewell’s missed conversion meant it was now 20-0.

The next couple of minutes were fairly uneventful due to some dubious forward pass decisions.

Esher’s forwards were dominant in the scrum so the ball was easily retained.

The hosts scored their fifth try from a classic Renwick burst from the back of the scrum. He broke through two tackles to offload to Garner, who pop-passed to Gaynor to beat two defenders before passing to Jewell.

He ran a good line between the centres of Manchester and scored just to the right of the posts.

Sleman stood up to take the conversion and also missed.

The game was restarted with Esher knocking the ball on, this time Manchester won their scrum and continued to play 15-man rugby.

Their outside centre Coskie was lively and was always looking for work.

However, with the style of play, you need good hands and, unfortunately, from a scrum due to a knock-on, Esher scored again, through some lovely back play that saw Garner make a break from halfway and score underneath the posts. This time the try was converted by Slemen to put Esher 32-0 ahead.

From the restart, Esher continued to dominate possession and Manchester were holding on as best as they could, but they were over-committing to the rucks, which gave Esher the space to throw the ball wide and for Slemen to burn the Manchester full-back to score his second of the match.

The skipper also converted his score.

It took only another two minutes for Esher to score again.

It came from some broken play and good support work by the Esher flankers, where Gaynor was able to release Jewell up the middle of the field and he scored his second of the game. The try was not converted, leaving Esher 44–0 ahead.

Immediately from the restart, Esher again went on the attack and increased their lead.

From some nice phase play, Renwick popped up on the right wing and released James Copsey, who raced passed a Manchester defender with the use of a well-timed hand-off to then pass back outside to Renwick, who had continued his run.

He off-loaded out of the tackle to Copsey, who galloped home from 20 yards to score. This try was converted by Sleman.

With 10 minutes left in the first half, Esher showed no mercy and scored their ninth try of the game. Jewell made a break in the middle of the field, then passed to his left and Thomas Loizides ran in from five yards out. Slemen hit the conversion to make it Esher 58 Manchester 0.

Manchester continued to compete but, as the score suggests, it was in vain as Esher continued to pile on the points, and Slemen scored his hat-trick try from a lovely one-handed pass from Copsey, Slemen duly converted the try.

Straight after the restart, Esher retained the ball and threw the ball out wide to Loizides, who showed outstanding pace to skin the Manchester winger.

He passed inside to Charles Baumberg, who released Jewell to step past the onrushing Manchester full-back and coolly dot the ball down underneath the posts for his third of the match.

Slemen with the easiest of conversions made it 72–0.

With five til half-time, there was still enough time for Esher to score again.

From a Manchester scrum, Esher stole the ball with a huge shove, the ball was recycled and Esher’s wingers fashioned a second score for Renwick, with the aid of a trundling run by Colm Hannon.

The try was not converted and the first half finished 77-0 to Esher.

Esher started the second half by immediately winning possession and started to build the phases.

Within two minutes of the second half, Lozidies was again on the scoresheet following good support by James Tubasei off a Jewell burst in the middle of the field, a simple finish to a nice flowing move. Baumberg missed the conversion.

After Manchester’s restart, the game began to lose some shape, and Esher weren’t as clinical.

It took eight minutes for them to score again, the score was made by a run from deep by Lozidies, who hit the line at pace and coasted home from 40 yards to score his hat-trick try.

The conversion was missed, but Esher led 87–0.

Esher scored again within two minutes of the restart.

From the base of a ruck inside the Esher half, Garner passed inside to his left, where Mark Odejobi burst through the Manchester defence and raced away, within 10 yards of the tryline, the Manchester fullback attempted the tackle but the ever-poaching Jewell was on Odejobi’s shoulder and he pop passed to his right for Jewell to glide over for his fourth of the match.

The conversion was again missed by Baumberg.

Esher retained possession from the restart, and scored again through Jewell, who dived over in the far right corner to take his try tally up to five for the match and Esher’s to 15.

It was a well-worked try, with the ball moving from left to right with the whole backline touching the ball before Jewell scored from 10 yards out.

This time the conversion was made by Baumberg and, with 14 minutes gone in the second half, Esher increased their lead to 99 points.

With 20 minutes left showing on the clock, Esher scored again, this time from deep.

It was a Manchester put-in at the scrum, Esher shoved them off the ball and Cowley fired a quick ball outside to his right, where Jonathan Hylton ran straight through a gap in the Manchester defence and stormed home from 70 yards. The conversion was missed.

With a century of points notched, Esher eased off the gas and the game became a little scrappy but this still didn’t stop the try count from increasing.

With 15 minutes left, Esher scored a try that was created from their own tryline.

The forwards and backs worked harmoniously to drive the Manchester defence backwards.

The rucks were cleaned out effectively and the passing was crisp.

The try was scored by Jewell, but Baumberg missed the conversion.

After the restart, Esher won a lineout just inside the Manchester half, the ball was passed from off the top to Cowley, who passed to Jewell.

He stepped off his right foot, straightened up and ran into the Manchester 22, before passing to his right, where Dan Frazier gratefully received the pass and strolled in for his first try of the match.

The try was not converted and, with nine minutes left, Esher led 114–0.

The final try of the game came from James Copsey, with two minutes remaining.

After relentless pressure, Esher knocked the ball on and Manchester were given a scrum five yards out from their own tryline.

The scrum was stolen by Esher and Copsey was on hand to receive the pass from Cowley. Predictably the conversion was missed.