|
Mansfield hold on to vital points
Powergen Midlands 2 East
MANSFIELD 25 SYSTON 18
Its tough at the top they say and Saturday proved the point. Three teams locked together on 28 points after games they were supposed to win easily all struggled to beat so called inferior opposition. Luton scored late to flatter their points margin, Kettering just one point better than Ampthill and Mansfield putting themselves into a nerve jangling situation with just a one score advantage.
Surprisingly Syston arrived at Eakring Road having targeted the match as winnable game in their relegation struggle. They proceeded to try to exploit every opportunity to run the ball from all areas and despite Mansfield dominating the forward battle inability to turn possession into points left the game in the balance.
Playing into a stiff wind down the slope Mansfield made the perfect start in a fast and furious opening quarter. One hundred seconds on the watch the T. E. Boddington Man of the Match Wayne Robinson as stroking the first of his four penalties through the posts. He was also alert in defence linking with Draycott to run back a series of long, siege relieving kicks as Syston tried to move play away from their line.
Scrum Half Buck found Calladine a willing support as he darted clear of the loose mauls. Kirk took ball against the head and marshalled his pack through Head’s drives and on the back of line ball from Pritchard and Pike who coped well in the blustery conditions. Rutter was twice to the ball in Mansfield’s most promising move, first with Taylor then Ashley and set up the platform for Kirk, Calladine and Robinson to break before Ashley and Rushby could only be kept out at the expense of a penalty.
With a six – nil advantage Mansfield faced the first concerted attack from the Leicester side. Jones and Taylor kept pace with the opposition and Arnold had some juddering welcomes for the opposition. Again the Mansfield forwards were punishing the visitors in the set scrums, despite persistent attempts to wheel. Ashley used the pick up and only a marginal forward pass brought a Rushby, Jones move to a halt.
Keeping ball to hand into the wind Mansfield progressed through two scrums and a line out before Pritchard featured three times as Mansfield drove over, controlled the ball to the back and saw Calladine claim the try. That should have been a springboard to clinch the match but adventure saw just the reverse.
A scrum on the Syston 22 saw wrong options and a break out brought to a halt sixty yards later with a Buck tackle and after a quick penalty a diagonal cross field kick which found South African Kriel for a try wide on the right.
The conversion was wide but within three minutes a penalty sent alarm bells ringing as the score came back to 11-8. As the half ended Mansfield again profited from Rutter’s astute kick through and Syston’s desperation to get engaged up front. A wild attempted quick line out found Arnold, Newbold and Jones closing down the visitors forcing a 5-metre scrum and Ashley touched down behind a well controlled drive.
Coming out strongly from the second half kick off only over anxious enthusiasm and offside halted Mansfield but on six minutes Rutter took a penalty on the right to stretch away to a 19-8 lead. On fifty minutes once Kirk stole line ball at the front, found Draycott and Ashley in support Robinson, back with the kicking duties extended the gap. Once again instead of sealing the game Mansfield found themselves caught out and conceding try number two.
Increasingly the game was proving scrappy and niggles turned into a full-blown thirty-man brawl resulting in Yellow cards for both scrum halves. Karl Robinson replaced Head and he moved play into the 22, had Rushby on the charge and won a penalty. Four minutes of regular time remained as the kick moved the score to 25-13. Draycott and Calladine gave way to the younger legs of Storey and Bennett and that may have been vital as Syston forced an eightieth minute try and then Mansfield had to survive some eight minutes of stoppages holding the attacking intentions in the middle of the pitch denying a try that could have drawn the game.
No let up this weekend when another relegation scrapper Nottingham Moderns visit Eakring Road in a rare double header. On the back of a 23-5 win last weekend they want more survival league points and also revenge for last season’s Notts. Cup Final defeat in a game which, with fixture backlog chaos in mind the clubs have agreed will count in both competitions.
| 
