It was a weekend full of surprises in North One West. Both Sale and Vale of Lune surrendered their unbeaten records to Altrincham Kersal and Leigh respectively and Kirkby Lonsdale recorded their second win of the season, over Rochdale.

There were no surprises though at Grove Park, Cheadle, where Manchester’s losing streak continued when they came up against Wilmslow.

It had been a long time since these old rivals and near neighbours had met each other in a competitive first-team match.

Wilmslow again produced an emphatic first 30 minutes during which they rattled in four tries and a penalty to lead 29-0.

After that, it became more of a contest. In fact, in scoring four tries to Wilmslow’s three in the remaining 50 minutes, Manchester were the winners as they secured their first league point of the season.

The damage though had already been done and the Wolves were never in danger of letting this one slip, although questions still remain over their ability to last the full 80 minutes.

At full throttle and with a full tank, they look a very good, compelling side but as the foot eases off and the tank starts to empty, their defence looks flimsy.

It took the Wolves barely two minutes to open their account; as the pack drove, Rohan Longmore, making his first start at scrum-half, spun the ball to his backs and inside centre Craig Cooper scythed through to touch down close to the posts.

Ten minutes later Wilmslow’s full-back Olly McCall found touch and from a stolen lineout, the Wolves ran the ball right and left, Ben Day eventually enjoying a straightforward run in.

A Bob MacCallum penalty soon followed and the Wolves were irrepressible at this stage, Day running in for his second try of the afternoon.

More was to come five minutes later as outside centre Richard Hughes completed a long run-in for the fourth try.

The Manchester boys’ spirits were raised when Richard McCartney planted an accurate cross kick into the arms of Alex Keyworth on the right wing, who showed a decent turn of speed to run in for a score.

Before half-time though, the Wolves were back in the driving seat and only desperate defence prevented McCall and Jones from adding to the tally.

The second half started with a loose MacCallum clearance, from which Manchester attacked, serving warning that although down, they weren’t out.

Despite a close-range score from flanker Danny Jones moments later to extend Wilmslow’s lead, Manchester were now running wide with the ball whenever they could and were given the space to do so.

Poor defence and a missed tackle let Douglas Day in for their second score of the afternoon.

A MacCallum cross kick as the game entered its last quarter was gathered up by McCall for try number six but the hosts still refused to crumble as they found holes in the Wolves defence to run in two more tries though flanker Luke Tyrrell and Joe Luttrell.

But the last rites belonged to the Wolves. A final MacCallum penalty set up yet another attacking lineout, and after several phases, Day popped up on the left wing to complete his hat-trick.

The Wolves entertain Sale next weekend and travel to Widnes the following week, before playing Wirral in early November.

These will all be tough games from which a true picture of their worth will emerge.