Cornish Pirates V Manchester Sunday January 125th Kick Off 2pm

We welcome a team to Camborne on Sunday who might be at the foot of the table, but cannot be taken lightly.

Manchester, who were runners-up to Otley in National Two last season, have won just the one game in this league campaign, it a 16-12 points win against near neighbours Sedgley Park. However, they pushed the Pirates close when we the teams met at the Mancunians Grove Park home in October, it a match played in very difficult conditions.

The strength of the wind made it inevitable that it would never be a classic, and entering the last quarter the game was still in the balance with the scoreline reading 6-7. A late try from Marika Vakacegu ultimately eased the tension (albeit it just a little) against resolute opponents, with a feeling of immense relief at the sound of the final whistle.

Dave Baldwin is the Director of Rugby at Manchester, him highly rated and someone who has successfully coached the England Counties team. Their leading points scorer is Gareth Wynne with 113, the wing having also finished last season at the top of their try-scoring list.

Manchester - a brief history:-

Founded as Manchester Football Club in 1860, eleven years before the formation of the RFU, the club is one of the oldest in the country, and is certainly the oldest in the north of England. Indeed, their history can be authentically traced back to December, 1857, when a number of Old Rugbeians living in the town raised a side to play an 'experimental match' with their counterparts in Liverpool.

The centenary of the event was marked in season 1957 with a special match between a combined Manchester and Liverpool XV, and the other antiquated combination Blackheath and Richmond. Incidentally, the ball for the game back in 1857 was provided by Richard Sykes, a former captain of football at Rugby School, and the game was advertised apparently as Rugby versus the World!

Three Manchester representatives A.S. Gibson, R.R. Osborne and H.J.C. Turner, were in the first ever England International XV which met Scotland in 1871, and in the early days of the RFU Manchester provided two Presidents in James MacLaren and Roger Walker. Another famous old boy was Albert Nelson Hornby who was the first ever player to captain England at both rugby and cricket.

Manchester played in the environs of the city for many years before teaming up with the local cricket club, Cheadle Hulme CC, to move to their present Grove Park ground in the south of the city, on a 23 acre site.

At the start of league rugby Manchester found themselves in the North West Two league, and over some 10 seasons rose through six leagues to compete in National One for five seasons before their relegation in 2004.