The result means that Scottish, who travel to the Forest of Dean to play Cinderford next weekend, now lie five points behind National League 1 leaders Esher, who have played one game less but who failed to pick up a bonus point as they were run close by Blackheath in a match that the Surrey side won 20-15.

On a bright but chilly afternoon, Scottish head coach Brett Taylor demonstrated his squad’s strength in depth by fielding in the starting fifteen just three players – right wing Broughton, outside centre Rory Damant and fly half Simon Amor, switching from his usual position of scrum half – who had begun the previous match at Wharfedale.

Stuart Peel, deputising for the rested Frankie Neale at full back, ran Broughton close for the man of the match award with four tries of his own, as well as playing a part in several others, and more than once he was unlucky not to add to his tally.
It was Peel who opened the scoring with a try set up by a surging run from second row Grant Livingston, following a throw to Scottish that had been well claimed by No 8 Willie Lipp, both forwards’ involvement reflecting the hosts’ dominance in the pack throughout the match, which helped provide the platform for the backs to rack up the points.

By the half hour mark, Scottish had sealed the bonus point, with two tries from Damant sandwiching a second from Peel as Manchester struggled to cope with the strength of the home forwards and the pace of their back line, which time and again stretched the visitors’ defence to breaking point.

Broughton claimed his hat trick during a blistering six-minute spell at the end of the first half, his second coming after a lightning quick run down the left flank by Roman Piotrowski, with Amor, assuming kicking duties in the absence of both Neale and James Brown, converting two of those to make it six kicks out of seven during the opening period for a half-time score of 47-0.

Bizarrely, however, Scottish appeared to have left their kicking boots in the dressing room following the interval as first Amor, then Damant, replacement Matt Heeks and finally Amor again, tried and failed to convert nine second-half tries.
The first of those came almost immediately from the restart through inside centre Chris Dunlop as Manchester again found no answer to the speed of the Scottish backs, and moments later Peel secured his hat-trick, slotting into the line to pick up a huge pass from Amor.

Manchester attempted to relieve pressure in midfield by kicking deep into Scottish territory, but the tactic backfired after the Scottish backs ran the ball the length of the field with hooker Arthur Ellis getting the decisive touch just moments after coming on as a replacement, and before long Piotrowski had got his name on the score sheet too, finishing off yet another move in which incisive running and accurate passing by Scottish had left the visitors in disarray.

The hosts were by now scoring seemingly at will, Peel touching down in the left hand corner to make it 72-0 just before the hour, and Broughton soon added his fourth after running back a Manchester kick, exchanging passes with Peel before finishing off the move. The right winger’s fifth wasn’t long in arriving as again the rapid movement of the Scottish back line created gaps in the visitors’ defence.

Despite the onslaught, Manchester scrum half Matt Bradley drew applause from the crowd as he elected to put a penalty into touch rather than going for three points from 25 metres out, but it was to no avail as Scottish won the ball, with Peel charging the length of the pitch before being held up on the line and laying off for flanker Ben Lonergan to get a second try for the forwards.

Manchester, displaying huge reserves of spirit, refused to give up and, after Scottish prop James Graham had been sin-binned, got their reward through a try from outside centre David Moore, who was first to the ball after it was chipped over the Scottish defence. Danny Carlton’s conversion made it 87-7 to complete the afternoon’s scoring.