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Mansfield U14 - 7 v Nottingham U14 – 22
A last minute game setup in midweek saw Mansfield U14 take on a Nottingham U14 at home Sunday morning and resulted in Mansfield showing that they can compete against the larger clubs in the 3 counties at this age group. With 3 lads back from County duty Mansfield, to their credit, gave Nottingham a scare but eventually lost 7-22 but can take heart of the fact they held them to 7-7 at half time, Ben Leivers-Riley scoring a great individual try throught the heart of the Notts defence. The second half saw Mansfield give much the same but Nottingham did move the ball well to create the space they needed to score. Good performances from Leiver-Riley, J. Clarke and Michael Pinder but man of the match award went to scrum half Dario Wilson for his relentless work and sharp passing.
Sleaford U17 - 0 v Mansfield U17 – 49
On a bright November morning Sleaford U17s entertained Mansfield U17’s, with the visitors running out 49–0 victors. Both teams showed great respect with a two minute silence for Remembrance Sunday before an excellent game of rugby. The blue and whites started the game very strong, forcing the home team to defend in their 22 from the kick off. Strong running saw Daniel Dugdale go over only for the ball to be ruled as held up. The resulting scrum gave Mansfield their first score with Joseph Symcox picking up at No.8 before releasing Adam Shaw down the blind side. The score was extended to 12-0 from the next venture into the 22. The forwards caught the ball at a line out and drove forward before releasing the backs. Quick ball allowed Jordan Bettridge the space out wide to score, and John Ross Ward kicked the difficult conversion from the touch line. Further pressure saw the Mansfield forwards secure the ball against the head, at a scrum 5m from the home team’s line and quick thinking by Shaw resulted in his second try. Mansfield’s continued domination forced the home side onto the back foot and desperate defence resulted in a penalty. This was taken quickly and Ryan Hough took a great line to split the defence and score between the posts. Ward made no mistake with the simple conversion to give the visitors a 24-0 lead. Two further periods of excellent rugby allowed Jonathan Fox to join the back line and out sprint the Sleaford backs to score. Firstly the forwards won the ball at a line out and released it quickly down the line and in the second, a great passage of play between the forwards and backs took the ball from their own 22 into the corner to give Mansfield a 34-0 half time lead. The second half was a closer affair with Mansfield playing up the slope and against the wind. With Sleaford kicking at every opportunity to gain territory and clear their lines, a greater proportion of the game was played in the middle of the park. However, a break by Ryan Croll saw him chip through and chase the ball down before releasing it out wide for Jonathan Cordin to go over in the corner then good work by the forwards turned the ball over to gain possession and quick interplay between Fox and Cordin released Dugdale to power through and take the score to 44-0. The lead was further extended when the ball was secured at a scrum on one side of the field and the ball passed swiftly through six pairs of hands to Bettridge out wide, for his second score in the corner. Mansfield continued to press but stout home defence kept the score below 50.
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