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SCUNTHORPE 3RD 12 MANSFIELD 2ND 31
Mansfield 2nds travelled to Scunthorpe on Saturday to defend an 8 game unbeaten run against a Scunthorpe side who were 11 games unbeaten. On paper both sides looked evenly matched and with both sides in form this should have been a close encounter but the blue lions had other ideas from the very 1st minute. They were in the faces of the home side winning all the loose ball and rucking Scunthorpe off their ball. Within 12 minutes Mansfield were 12-0 up with Bacon diving over for a try in the corner then Johnstone joined the backs to score with a carbon copy try from the previous week. Ward converted to give Mansfield a comfortable lead, this was stretched even further on the stroke of half time when Barker finished off a flowing move from the backs stepping in off his wing to wrong foot the opposition full back to score under the sticks. Ward converted to make again to make it 19-0 at the break. Scunthorpe started the 2nd half in a different gear and rocked Mansfields defence time after time with replacement Fish being the catalyst to all their good work but as in previous weeks Mansfields’ line held and when Pearce latched on to a loose pass from the Scunthorpe backs he ran 50 metres to score a try under the posts to cap a fine personal performance for the 2nd row player. 5 minutes later Barker strolled in for his 2nd try of the day to make it 31-0. With 15 minutes left you would have been forgiven for thinking the game was won but Scunthorpe saved their best till last by scoring 2 tries and a conversion in 5 minutes to show the blue lions why they had gone 11 games unbeaten. Final score Mansfield 31 Scunthorpe 12.