Douglas 30-3 St Benedicts ‘Douglas Draw Sting From St B’s ’ Isle of Man Examiner – ‘The humble bucket and mop contributed to Old Mutual Douglas scaling previously unchartered heights in North One West. The visit of St Benedicts from Cumbria was preceded by a Friday night downpour that culminated with coaches Tom Waterworth and Carl Murray moving gallons of standing water from a green Port-e-Chee pitch to make the surface playable. And what a worthwhile exercise it was. The rugby was heavy going for 15 minutes as the teams adjusted, but Bryn Snellgrove’s introduction at scrum-half paid immediate dividends off the bench as he splashed over and Aidan O’Shea converted for 7-0. The benefit of a breeze gave Douglas field position and 10 minutes later O’Shea ploughed over from 20 metres for a try, and added a penalty for good measure when St B’s went offside. Paul Leivers return from injury gave Douglas extra go-forward alongside Niall Killey and Craig McGee, but the visitors were competitive in the loose even if their scrummage was under pressure. St B’s John Trodd tapped over a penalty when Douglas halted a maul illegally, and as half time neared the 15-3 margin seemed a bit on the narrow side given Douglas would face the elements. But it was the young Douglas guns that made sure the pre-match toil did’nt go to waste, and defied the conditions in reaping the full five league points while doing so. Prop Owen Carvin added another first to a developing CV by registering his first league match try at 50 minutes as the Douglas pack shouldered him over and 20-3. O’Shea brought marauding back-rowers Liam Kirkpatrick and Sam Games in to play around the fringes, and the front row pairing of Chris Bollen and Filipe Pereira showed great hands alongside an appetite for bullocking runs and implacable defence. Douglas now governed the conditions and Snellgrove took a break to rest a niggling injury for Shaun Wyllie to resume his come back at scrum-half. Winger James Maddrell took Douglas to bonus point territory with a fourth try after Nick Brooker and Adam Boyd terrorised St B’s defence with pace from deep, and it was the youngest Douglas player Harry Hewson, featured on the match day programme, who added real gloss. Blistering acceleration on an angle through St B’s midfield from 35 metres out belied the heaviness underfoot and took him untouched to a 70th minute solo try. Just two points separate sixth from second, and the bigger fish behind have a game or two in hand, but the minnows of North One West move up to promotion play-off second place behind runaway leaders Vale of Lune.’
