Wins for Ramsey’s Reds and Blues saw them retain the top two positions in the Ravenscroft Manx Shield standings on Saturday.

The Reds beat Nomads Whites 43-12 at a blustery Mooragh Park pitch.

Playing with the wind in the first half, Ramsey took the lead on the 15-minute mark.

Eddie Lord rose majestically to steal a Nomads lineout inside his own half. He landed with no defenders behind him and stepped through the Nomads line before galloping downfield.

Jared May ran a great support line and Ramsey moved the ball wide to full back Luke Ward. He was brought down short of the line but two quick rucks later there was space for hooker Ben Hardman to crash over. Brandon Atchison converted.

Nine minutes later the lead was doubled. Ramsey’s forwards had ground their way into the Nomads 22 and skipper Matt Meechan dived in for the first of his hat-trick of tries. Atchison again converted to put Ramsey 14-0 ahead.

Nomads had looked threatening through their back line and pace man Tony Quinn had already been thwarted by a cover tackle for the super-fast Ramsey hooker Hardman.

Five minutes before the break it was Quinn who made the decisive break down the left wing. This gave Nomads good field position and from a close-range ruck captain George Callister burst through the defence to open his side’s account.

Mark Young converted and the teams turned around with Ramsey 14-7 ahead.

The home side was playing into the wind in the second half and only two minutes after the restart Nomads scored again.

Young had floated the ball downfield on the wind and after the forwards crashed it up route one, the ball was moved along the backline for Tom Collister to score. The conversion was missed so Ramsey retained a slender 14-12 lead.

Despite playing into the strong wind, Ramsey slowly turned the screws. Five minutes into the second half Kevyn DeSouza broke up the left and earned Ramsey an attacking scrummage. Atchison darted from the base but couldn’t quite get over, however skipper Meechan was on hand to finish. Twelve minutes in it was Atchison who finished this time, running 50 metres to score.

Shortly after the half-hour the Matt and Brandon show started again. Inside his own half Atchison tapped a penalty and popped the ball to the charging Meechan who scythed through the Nomads line for a 50-metre score of his own to complete his hat-trick. Atchison’s conversion saw Ramsey 31-12 ahead and pretty much home and dry.

But there was time for more action in the closing stages. Atchison ran in tries two and three for his hat-trick, converting one of those to finish the game with a personal haul of 23 points.

Out west at the QEII School pitch in Peel, Ramsey Blues raced into a 14-0 lead over Western Vikings with tries from Adam Dunlop and Brayden Roche. Both were converted by Dale Radcliffe.

Vikings hit back with tries from Ryan Burke and Harry Goodwin, plus two Burke conversions.

But Ramsey proved too quick and by half-time they led 38-14. Dunlop had bagged his hat-trick, with other scores coming from Ben Smith and Peter Crowe.

Morgan Armstrong-Paton pounced twice for Vikings in the second half and Josh Hockney got their fifth try. Burke’s boot proved flawless with conversions.

Two from Dale Radcliffe and one from captain Connor Casey however were enough for them to claim maximum points.