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Mansfield Colts - 22 v Spalding Colts – 7
Mansfield Colts secured a semi final spot in the NLD Cup maintaining their 100% league record with a stuttering 22-7 victory over a committed Spalding team at Eakring Road on Sunday afternoon. Following the lack lustre 3-0 victory in the game at Spalding earlier in the season, Mansfield started the game in determined mood securing quick ball and spinning it wide at every opportunity. They should really have converted early dominance into points but only poor handling and decision making let them down, instead all they had to show for their early superiority was a penalty after 12 minutes. From that point it was Spalding who took the upper hand as their forwards gained control and were unlucky not to score on a couple of occasion. The Mansfield line was finally broken just before the break when the excellent Spalding No. 8 broke a couple of tackles in midfield before being stopped just short of the line where he managed to off load to the scrum half in support who touched down under the posts. The 7-3 half time score was no less than Spalding deserved, it was the worst half of rugby the home side had played all season. The second half was however a different story as the Mansfield forwards moved through the gears to peg Spalding back in their own 22 for long periods. The Blue and Whites were rewarded 5 minutes into the second half when captain Mike Lowery picked from the back of a scrum and released scrum half Tommy Blythe who cleverly used his winger as a decoy to split the defence and score under the posts. Spalding only briefly threatened in the second period and Mansfield extended the lead with a carbon copy of the first score. A superb 20 metre run from Eddie Simmons was adjudged to be held up over the line and from the resultant scrum the back row once more worked the blind side but this time Blythe offloaded to Andy Zacharia and the classy winger ghosted in for a score out wide. The third score came about in similar fashion with Spalding failing to handle the explosive Mansfield back row, this time it was centre Alan Symcox who was the beneficiary. Jordan Bailey added two conversions to his earlier penalty success to make the final score 22-7.
Mansfield U14 - 68 v Bourne U14 – 0
Yet another week where Mansfield U14’s have played clearly weaker opposition and have made them pay. Winning 68-0 at home showed that the youngsters can do a job when they put their mind to it.
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