Mansfield play their Double Six
Nottinghamshire Senior Cup Final
MANSFIELD 43 MELLISH 8
Mansfield brought down the curtain on their finest season ever landing the Double of League and Cup and extending the record for successive County Cup wins to six. Not their most fluent or exciting performance of the campaign, thank the streetwise Mellish back row for that, but a convincing win, thank the solid team effort and an inspirational five try Jonno Wilson for that.
Mellish packed their side with experience from the highest level of NLD rugby and despite their recent relegation clearly set out to show they were not merely making up the numbers. The early exchanges saw Wayne Robinson kicking Mansfield into good position then needing a solid tackle to protect his own line. Davies was quick to exploit the narrow side and jink into the heart of the Mellish cover before Mansfield put together the first concerted move after eight minutes. Roberts collected from a scrum and broke thirty metres before Rutter and Robinson fed the ball to Storey who rounded his opposite number, unfortunately putting a foot in touch as he did.
With most scrums disrupted as Mellish felt the pressure Mansfield were relying on the lineout dominance, of Lindsay in particular, to provide an attacking platform. When Mellish tried to counter this with a line out ten metres from Mansfield’s line the long throw was seized on by Holmes and his pass saw Jones make a break over halfway. Rutter was halted by a high tackle, Rushby spun dangerously into midfield and Mansfield again used the speed of handling of Stringfellow, Jones, Wilson and Storey before an accidental offside ended a try bound move.
Incredibly the first quarter ended without any points on the board, but within a minute Rutter opened the Mansfield account, landing a penalty after more killing of the ball on the ground. Harrison took successive scrums against the head and a forwards phalanx of Roberts, Williams and Pritchard drove Mellish back. Still Mansfield looked for the points their pressure deserved and after Karl Robinson and Holmes halted the opposition with tackles in midfield they struck from inside their own half.
Regaining possession outside the 22 Davies, Rutter and Jones set up a break from Wilson. He scorched away sixty metres rounding the defence before heading behind the posts to leave Rutter the simplest of conversions. The final six minutes of the half saw Harrison and Pritchard linking to break clear, the second row steal a Mellish line and send Holmes twenty metres forward and Arnold, on after Rushby damaged a calf muscle , attack down the right. When the ball moved back inside Wilson was rounding off the half with the second of his five tries. Rutter drew the defence before chipping tantalisingly into the gap, Wilson was quickest to react, control the ball and leave the full back flat footed to set up another regulation, under the posts conversion for the Mansfield skipper.
Turning round 17-0 in front Mansfield tried to open up the game but again were thwarted by determined Mellish defence with ‘old heads’ knowing exactly where to be to prevent the flow of ball. Karl Robinson was mobile round the pitch to cut down the opposition attacks and Roberts always available to make the opening, bludgeoning runs. A high tackle stopped Davies but it was Mellish who were next to score. Despite being driven off their own ball and apparently obstructing the penalty went their way for a 17-3 score line.
Mansfield over hit a penalty to set up a 5 metre line out but kept the pressure on as Harrison and the well drilled Mansfield forwards stole three Mellish scrums against the head. A double change brought Grant and Taylor on for Williams and Holmes and heralded the score that made the game secure. Lindsay’s quick catch and delivery sent Jones away stopped only by a high tackle. His centre partner Wilson saw the option of a quick, tap penalty and raced through for his hat trick, Rutter again converting.
The string of niggling offences finally brought a yellow card for Mellish but surprisingly despite being a man down Mellish forced a try after Mansfield failed to clear an untidy heel. Any comeback hopes were snuffed out in the next five minutes. Taylor and Arnold made important tackles and with ball back in hand the Blue and Whites capitalised.
Davies and Rutter brought the backs into play and when Storey was given space down the right his speed carried him on a typical run in and Rutter ensured the score moved to 31-8.
Within two minutes he was securing another seven points, Stringfellow running the restart ball back and this time the move didn’t need to go outside of the ever eager Wilson. As the clock ran down to a final minute red card for Mellish, replacement Newton, the back row and backs probed again. Wilson’s change of direction carried him clear and despite Rutter’s conversion coming back off the post Mansfield had regained the Cup with a 43-8 win.
The skipper raised the Cup, the winning sequence stretched out to six years and Mansfield, double champions, looked back on a season to remember. The result means that Mansfield completed their season with five defeats in thirty one matches, scoring 981 points on the way with just 402 conceded.
Coach John Tasker was delighted by the outcome. “We would have liked to have played a more open game and entertained the crowd more but it was an excellent team performance with Jonno Wilson adding the gloss. After the euphoria of the league win two weeks ago the boys did well to get themselves up for another big game but it is important for us to be crowned as champions in our own back yard.”
Didn’t we have a lovely time the day went to Blackpool
Mansfield U13's continued their winning ways with a very successful tournament held over three days at Blackpool and being crowned Classic Rugby Champions. Beating Bicester on the morning of the first day 31 - 0 with tries from Joseph Symcox, Ryan Hough, Ross Elms, Adam Shaw and Daniel Dougdale with Ross Elms converting three and Hereford in the afternoon 36 - 7 with four tries from Ryan Hough and further tries from Jono Cordin and Ross Elms with Elms converting three.
The second day was equally successful with a 29 - 5 victory over Blackpool in the morning with Daniel Dougdale scoring two tries with further tries from Ryan Hough, Adam Shaw and Ross Elms. Elms converting two. In the afternoon they thumped Fleetwood 45 - 0 with seven players scoring tries, Dean Gillion, Daniel Dougdale, Adam Shaw, Ryan Hough, Ross Elms, Robert French and Jono Cordin. Ross Elms converted four and John Ross Ward one.
The final day saw Mansfield against the Champions of Suffolk - Bury St. Edmunds who had not been defeated for two years. This game was much tighter but tries from Jono Cordin and Ryan Hough 2 and a Ross Elms penalty saw Mansfield crowned Champions after a 23 - 5 victory.
On the back of their N.L.D. 7's Championship victory and Classic Rugby Tour success Mansfield U13's were going for the clean sweep in the final of the Notts, Lincs and Derbys 15's Championship against a very physical team from Stamford.
Things started very well, Daniel Dougdale scoring the first try after 12 minutes. Ross Elms made a break and was held up 10 metres from the line. From the ensuing ruck the ball was passed out and Dougie drove over to take the score to 5 - 0.
Mansfield dominated territory from there on and should have scored further points but, after giving away three successive penalties Stamford were able to break the Mansfield defence to level the scores after 19 minutes. On the 22 minute mark, the ball was passed down the line from a quick penalty and Mansfield reached the Stamford line,where the ball was held up. From the resulting scrum Adam Shaw threw a long pass to Jono Cordin who broke the game line to score. Ross Elms converted to take the score to 12 - 5. Despite continued pressure from Mansfield there was no further score before half time.
The second half saw Stamford start strongly winning a penalty after 3 minutes. This was kicked into touch and from the line out they drove over to take the score to 12-10. From this point the match was then finely balanced with Stamford winning it up front & Mansfield in the backs.
However, a Stamford scrum, 20 metres out, saw a blindside move and despite desperate tackles Stamford scored in the corner to take the score to 12-15 with 20 minutes on the clock.
Mansfield dominated the final 5 minutes being camped in the Stamford 22 but could not find the break through to level the match.
Mansfield's U13's season has been very successful collecting three trophies and playing 20 matches winning 19 and loosing 1, scoring 772 points and conceding only 101 points
Mansfield U14's ended their season with a comfortable win over a very physical team from Rotherham 38 - 20.
The first half was dominated by Mansfield with the initial try being scored after 5 minutes. Good scrummaging allowed the ball to be released by Tommy Blythe to Simon Rowland for a run in near the touch line. The second came immediately from the Rotherham re-start. James Wood collected the drop kick and ran over half the pitch evading a number of tackles again to score near the flag. The third came after 20 minutes with the ball passing down the line to Sam Cordin who rounded the defence and scored between the posts, Tom Clark converted to take the score to 17 - 0.
Rotherham scored either side of half time to reduce the lead to 17 - 12 but then Mansfield increased the tempo with Jim Smith scoring after the ball was collected from a 22 yard drop-out and passed down the line. Joe Kimberley scored a solo effort after collecting the ball from the back of the scrum and Jordan Bailey scored Mansfield's final try from a quick penalty move. Clark converted all three to take the score to 38 - 12. Rotherham replied towards the end of the game with a penalty and unconverted try for a final score of 38 -20.
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