Mansfield pass Students test with honours
Powergen Midlands 2 East
LOUGHBOROUGH STUDENTS 5 MANSFIELD 27
Mansfield travelled to Loughborough to face fellow promotion contenders and survived a determined onslaught to take away the Students 100% record. The win owed much to Mansfield’s ‘Mean Machine’ – their superbly drilled, mobile and hard tackling defensive regime that has them conceding the least points of any side in the division.
Equally important is the clinical finishing which Coach John Tasker had set as a target and which the team is now delivering. “We withstood a great deal of pressure and defended superbly,” he commented “and nearly ever time we attacked their line we put the points away.”
The pressure came early and the Students spent the opening quarter penning Mansfield back in their own half. Finding it hard to secure good set piece ball the Blue and Whites relied on the back row and midfield to bottle up the home side’s attacking thrusts. Even on their own line they held their discipline to avoid unnecessary penalties and the opening try, wide on the left after several phases of play went unconverted to give scant reward for the territorial dominance of the home club.
Mansfield continued to struggle to find touch with clearing kicks and the predictably fast Students were getting to the breakdowns first. Where quality ball was coming Mansfield’s way was from the impressive driving of Roberts, Stringfellow and Lindsay. Marshalled by Kirk they ground out the metres and began to find Taylor and an outrageous dart round the front of the line by Stringfellow spring boarding them forward.
On the half hour quick ball was secured, Buck released the three quarters and Rutter’s miss one pass gave Jones the opening for a try by the posts. A simple conversion sent Mansfield into half time and a lead they were not to relinquish. If the Students had ideas of quickly re-establishing their ascendancy they were soon dashed.
Mansfield recovered their kick off through Stringfellow and Lindsay, replacement Williams and Roberts kept the momentum and having driven forty metres the ball was spun down the backs for Arnold to power over near touch. Rutter’s successful conversion provided the most impressive of his dozen points on the day.
Despite encountering difficulties with the wheeling scrum Mansfield worked away through Holmes and his replacement Newton to maintain pressure and a more impressive second half performance. Increasingly frustrated the Students conceded penalties and Rutter’s boot ensured Mansfield pulled away to 20-5. Robinson and Storey couldn’t find a way down the touchline and as Loughbough rallied Arnold faced by two attackers had to be both alert and strong to secure a high cross-field kick. Again try line defending saw Rushby and Newbould keep it intact before the prop gave way to debutant Colt Liam Slin. He had time to show real power in the scrum before Mansfield’s final sweeping move of the day saw Stringfellow cut back inside under the posts and Rutter’s conversion was the last kick of the afternoon.
The win sets up a real four pointer in a fortnight when big spenders Market Bosworth, third behind Mansfield bring their 100% league record to Eakring Road. First, however, back on the road to Loughborough to meet the town side in the Powergen Intermediate Cup. A bye when Mellish conceded the first round sets up this game. ‘Boro warmed up with a 44-29 over West Bridgford that put them clear at the top of Midlands Three with eight points from four games. Fifteen of their sixteen tries so far have come from the backs so Mansfield’s defence will have to be on its mettle again.
Mansfield’s Juniors showed on Sunday their free scoring ability. Away at West Bridgford the Under 15’s scored 8 unanswered tries. Flanker Danny Spencer scored one, a brace each for Full Back Jack Foster and Winger Andreas Zacharia, with a hat-trick for Captain and 'Man of the Match' Tom Calladine. Half Backs Stuart Wilson and Alan Symcox. added a conversion in each half.
At Eakring Road the Under 13’s comfortably beat their rivals from Buxton 71-0. Dominating both territory and possession they scored six tries without reply in the first half. Buxton gave a better account of themselves in the second, restricting Mansfield to five further tries but, were totally outplayed by the strong tackling forwards and slick skills of the backs. Try scorers for Mansfield were Ryan Hough, Daniels Dugdale, Ross Elms and Adam Shaw with two each, and further tries from Robert French, Dean Gillan and Jonathan Cordin. Eight of the tries were converted by a combination of Ross Elms, Adam Shaw and John Ross Ward. Man of the match was hooker Joseph Symcox |
