Wilmslow Ravens enjoyed a 46-0 victory at home to Manchester on Saturday.

In the first encounter between two established club teams, there was no precedence, but league positions suggested that, on paper at least, that the Ravens were favourites. And so it turned out.

The opposition turned up in time to undergo a rigorous warm-up but, once Wilmslow captain Al McLennan won the toss and decided to kick off, the Ravens were in business.

It was Wilmslow who started the brighter, pinning Manchester in their own half with dominant forward play and slick handling through the backs.

It came as no surprise when Jason New sent over a penalty to put the hosts 3-0 up.

Shortly afterwards Manchester missed a penalty but the game was still being dominated by Wilmslow, and after a fantastic display of quick hands and feet from the backs, the first try was scored by Bruce Carden, whose return to the fray has been a welcome boost.

The tricky conversion was missed by New to leave the scores at 8-0. Unfortunately, shortly after this, the evergreen Nigel Day fell awkwardly on his shoulder and was replaced by latecomer Peter Ford to ensure the pack remained strong.

After the amount of control the Ravens had enjoyed in the first 15 minutes, they could be excused for thinking that the win was mere formality. But what couldn’t be excused was the way they collectively took their foot off the pedal, almost expecting the points to be handed to them.

The lack of intensity allowed Manchester back into the game, and for the remaining 25 minutes, the game became little more than a scrap.

There were odd glimpses of magic here and there from the likes of Levi Hertman and Mark O’Connell but it remained 8-0 at the break.

The half-time talk was simple. The experienced heads in the team called for an increase in intensity levels and a return to the dominance shown in the early parts of the first half, as the first score – whichever way it went – was going to be crucial.

The harsh words seemed to reignite the whole team. The forwards started driving their opposition back in the scrums again and McLennan continually gained hard-fought ground, punching holes in the opposition’s defensive lines and producing big hits.

Stand-in hooker Markus Bowers did a sterling job in an unfamiliar position, as did stand-in prop Dave Nichol who continually put himself on the line despite a back problem.

It wasn’t long before the gaps started to occur and the awesome pace and power of Hertman told. He smashed through numerous tackles time and time again and eventually got all the way through for the first points of the second half to take the Ravens 13-0 ahead.

Unlike the first half, the Ravens kept up the pressure and were enjoying playing most of their rugby deep inside Manchester territory.

After several phases of forward pressure the backs kept the ball moving while probing for gaps and the inspirational Paul Thompson used quick feet and hands to sell a dummy pass to his opposite number before dropping a shoulder to power over. New’s conversion took the score to 20-0.

With victory now in the bag it was now a case of securing the bonus point, which came via Sam James, who latched onto a dropped ball deep inside his own half and showed a clean pair of heels to run almost 60 yards to score his first try of the season under the posts, giving New a simple kick for the extras.

After a superb break by the backs, again from their own half, Carden tore down the wing, and after he was felled just short of the line, support came from full-back John Boulding, who went over in the corner.

The next try saw Daz Lucas power through a host of tacklers after the Ravens were awarded a penalty 10 yards out.

New, who converted the try, was the next to touch down, collecting his own chip over the Manchester defenders and beating two more men to go in under the posts before putting the ball down under the posts.

One late try from Wilmslow completed Manchester’s misery.