Leaders pushed all the way by spirited Mansfield
Powergen Midlands 2 East
South Leicester 27 Mansfield 3
Mansfield’s trip to Wigston was supposed to see table topping South Leicester ease their passage into Midlands One with a regulation victory over mid table opposition. The scoreline would suggest just that, with maybe a bigger win anticipated. The reality was a much tighter game, a flattering score to the league leaders and a day when Mansfield’s never say die attitude simply refused to let the game get away from them.
South Leicester may not be head and shoulders above their rivals for promotion in the table but on the pitch they are far and away the biggest side in the league. Described by one Mansfield player as at least a stone heavier and bigger the Blue and Whites battled hard not only to keep the game on the move but battled to match them in the set pieces.
The opening minutes saw the home side launching an onslaught on the Mansfield line and despite heroic tackling across the park Mansfield unable to gain possession and clear to safety. Ashley and Newton scrambled at the breakdown and battering ram carries from the centres crashed on the defensive rocks of Jones and Holmes. Clever switches of play moved the Mansfield cover defence left and right before they broke down on five minutes and an unconverted try opened the scoring.
The home support thought that was the opening of the floodgates but Mansfield had other thoughts and attempted to move the ball through hands and keep the larger opponents turning on a slippery surface. Arnold angled his runs into midfield gaining territory and space, Storey linked with Bacon for more conventional thrusts along the touchline. The spirit of adventure brought Rutter a penalty but Mansfield suffered a harsh blow on the quarter hour with Kirk, leading by example, chosen by the referee for an exemplary yellow card. Crookes joined the reshuffled front row and despite being a man down Mansfield redoubled their efforts to keep out the Leicester attacks.
Back to fifteen men Mansfield used Smedley’s prompting and a variety of angled chips from Rutter to give balls for the backs to chase down. Pritchard and Taylor, returning from injury, carried well to set up mauls, Robinson attacked the gain line but Newbould found he was as much in demand in defence as attack. Wills, at full back, showed sound defence with his speed, safe hands under the high ball and fearless tackling able to thwart try threatening situations. The whole Mansfield side put bodies on the line, their try line, and five times South were unable to secure a clean touch down.
Power and simply too much strength eventually allowed South another try and Lord added the conversion and a penalty before the break to keep him in second place in the kickers table. Mansfield continued to entertain despite the conditions and blustery wind with Smedley and Storey managing two banana curve kicks across the Mansfield try line and over the dead ball line when a landing in the South half may have seemed easier.
The second period began with Mansfield taking the game to their opponents and the third quarter belonged to them. Holmes burrowed away and Bacon linking with Wills in the line they tested the leaders defence. Despite the size disparity Mansfield were more than competing and steady line ball through Pritchard and Taylor meant the attacking options through Ashley and Newton were giving the backs space to test the Leicester cover.
The introduction of Beaumont from the bench brought a spark of pace as Coach John Tasker looked to step up a gear. Quickest to the ball and disruptive with his tackling the home side looked distinctly worried and Waggstaff’s arrival showed more fresh legs willing to attempt the half breaks and also be a covering defender. With Crookes back on view for the last ten minutes Mansfield had seen their complete squad of eighteen contribute to as good a performance as that which had won 27-3 the week before.
Continued territorial advantage and variations of attacking points kept the Mansfield support in tigerish mood but in the difficult conditions Mansfield failed to sustain the pressure and a final burst in the last eight minutes brought twelve more points to flatter a South side closing in on the title.
‘The boys never took their foot of the gas and still had fuel in the tank at the end of a four star performance against a strong South. These will probably secure the title now while we need to turn thoughts to the Cup competitions’ was Coach John Tasker’s reaction.
The NLD Cup will certainly be no easier than last weekend as Mansfield head to Midlands One promotion chasing Scunthorpe. A win at Haslam Park is a rarity for any side and not one that Mansfield can boast of in recent times. Third placed Scunny will look to impose their fast forward game on the Blue and Whites before bringing in their much praised backline into play. A repeat performance from Mansfield may just upset the predictions and pull off a cup shock. The supporting cast will leave by coach at 11.45 on Saturday.
The Notts. Cup Semi Final pitching Ashfield against Mansfield has now be allotted Saturday April 29th. with the winners heading to Eakring Road for the Finals Day on May 7th
Mansfield II v Moderns - Home
Mansfield 2nd team entertained Moderns 2nds in a very scrappy league encounter but sealed a 32-13 win. Both sides failed to take control of the game with error ridden play being the menu of the day. Although frustrating, Mansfield managed to score tries through Brown, Garrett and Saunders in the first half with Moderns only reply being a single penalty. The second half did not see any improvement in the structure to the game but a fine solo effort from T. Newton saw Mansfield extend their lead with another try. A late rush from Moderns brought about a try and a penalty for Moderns to finish off what can only be described as a dour affair. Young scrum half Shaw put in a notably good performance as a consolation.
Mansfield III v Kesteven III – Home
Mansfield 3rds again managed to play rugby to a lower standard than their opposition losing 17-0. Mansfield couldn’t get started and played the first half of the game in their own 22 but Kesteven luckily played an error ridden game too where they missed a couple of penalty kicks. From the restart Mansfield improved turning over Kestevens ball on several occasions but a break away try for Kesteven put heads down. From there on in Kesteven turned the screw to buckle Mansfield and went on to score a further try and conversion. The shining light was a solid performance again from Hawson who directed Mansfield forward with the little ball they had.
Mansfield V v Spartans – Away
A vastly improved Spartan team were too strong for the young but ever improving Mansfield 5ths losing 22-5. Against a large experienced pack it proved too much for the youngsters of Mansfield who could not create any of their usual flair and take the game to Spartans. Turning round at the break only 5 points a drift after a Spartan’s push-over try the defensive work of Mansfield seemed to be holding out, but then Spartans hit Mansfield with 2 tries, 1 converted, within the first 10 minutes of the second half. The young die hards of Mansfield rallied and a late surge of pressure pulled back a try of their own but Spartans were not to be out done and in the last 5 minutes scored a 4th try. Great performances from both sides with Spartans gaining the upper hand, but the outstanding individual performances from Mansfield went to scrum-half Tim Gibbons and man of the match Steve Bonser who scored Mansfield’s only try
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