This was despite the efforts of Ramsey’s Danny Howard, who ran in a personal haul of four tries.
Douglas were out of the blocks quickest, but remained scoreless after an opening five-minute assault on the Ramsey line. Indeed it was the hosts that broke the deadlock with their first real attack.
Number eight Rory Nicholson trucked it up in midfield, Connor Cracknell then moved it left and the Ramsey ’flying machine’, Howard, applied the finish.
Douglas hit back on the quarter-hour when Daryn Thompson turned over a Ramsey attack on halfway. The ball was then shipped left and Carl Murray strolled over unopposed in the corner. Adam Gregg added the extras for a 7-5 lead.
With the Douglas tails up, Ramsey picked the wrong time to defend sloppily. The restart wasn’t chased hard enough and Douglas punished them for it when flanker Wilf Kermode finished off a three-on-one overlap.
Three minutes later, Douglas hooker Joe Corkish made the most of a missed tackle at the side of a ruck. He got in behind the Ramsey defensive line and his off-load found Nathan Hinks who applied the finish. Gregg converted and the lead grew to 19-5.
Ramsey struck back when Howard danced down the seaside touchline for his second and, as the clock ticked towards half-time, he bagged his hat-trick after Cracknell made the hard yards on the right flank. Dan Richmond converted and Ramsey were within two points at 19-17.
The comeback was short-lived as the Douglas pack probed the Ramsey try line in the shadow of the posts. After drawing in the defence, scrum half Craig Martin found Liam Kirkpatrick at first receiver and the Douglas number eight went over to leave his side 24-17 ahead at the break.
Ten minutes into the second half Douglas wing James Boyd galloped in down the right and Gregg’s conversion extended the lead. Howard then replied for Ramsey with Richmond converting to again reduce the difference.
The tit-for-tat didn’t continue, however, and Douglas bagged tries on 60 and 70 minutes to build an unassailable lead. Murray picked up his second of the game from close range and Martin raced clear for the first of his two scores. Gregg added a conversion and Douglas were 43-24 clear.
There was a flurry of tries in the final 10 minutes. Peter Frankwick’s step into the line freed up space for Dan Bonwick to pull one back for Ramsey. Harry Corrin cancelled it out quickly for Douglas at the other end.
Martin then nipped in for his second before Ramsey had the final word when Frankwick finished off a Tom Moffatt break.
l At Ballafletcher, Vagabonds sneaked their second one-point Manx Trophy win on the bounce when they beat Southern Nomads 18-17.
Ryan de la Harpe and Tom Gascoyne both picked up tries for Vagas, with Cam Findlay converting one and adding two penalties. Alex Long, Dom Long and Ben Fry all bagged tries for the southerners, with Alex Long converting one.
MANX BOWL
In the Manx Bowl, Emerging Nomads maintained their unbeaten record with an 89-66 win against Vagabonds Ladies’.
Harri Wallis (5) and Jake Walmsley (3) did the most damage for Nomads with other scores coming from Alex Le Moal, Tony Pitt, Tony Quinn, Dale Williams, Eve Hand, Simon Chadwick and Ciaran Quine-Askew.
Elsewhere in the Bowl, Castletown beat Western Vikings 46-29 at Poulsom Park. Kunal Patel and Kyle Martin ran in two each for Castletown and there were also tries from Morgan Armstrong-Paton and Callum Coulthard, with Tom Rowley kicking a penalty and four conversions.
Conal McCartney scored two tries for Vikings with other scores coming from Ryan Burke and Chris Beaumont. Burke also added a penalty and three conversions.
Rugby results, October 24
Manx Trophy
Ramsey 34-55 Douglas South
Vagabonds 18-17 PDMS Southern Nomads
Manx Bowl
Vagabonds Hornets v
Ramsey B postponed
Emerging Nomads 89-66
Vagabonds Ladies’
Castletown 46-29 Western Vikings
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