Mansfield and Mellish have made something of a rivalry for themselves over the last few seasons. Always entertaining, always fierce and always completely unpredictable when it comes to the victor. In this case, Mansfield showed a lot of resilience to bounce back from a defeat in the previous game to take the spoils here. This was a competitive game on what was a cold and chilly Friday evening, played under the floodlights at Eakring Road. While the scoreline does show the dominance Mansfield had in some areas, it doesn’t do justice to the spirit and ferocity Mellish played with. But for a dropped ball here or a turnover there, their score could easily have been more than seven. That said, Mansfield were able to ride the storm of disruption the visitors caused to find their own rhythm and rack up a half century of points.

Head coach Dave Woodcock was happy with how it all turned out: ‘Our new game plan is starting to take shape and pay dividends, it’s been exciting to see it all develop in real time.’

It would seem that everybody is fully buying into the new game plan, Mansfield were able to turn an early scrum into some usable possession, spin it wide and use the space and pace on the wings to open the scoring with a wonderful 70m run from youngster Leah McGready, proving her worth with every growing second. A successful conversion by Laina Corah saw the home team take an early 7-nil lead.

However, the second score would come from the visitors with a quite wonderful reversal of momentum. An interception in the middle of the park on halfway saw Mansfield pivot from attack to defence. While there were defenders there to cover, the visitor’s attacker recognised this and smartly drilled the ball along the floor, meaning nobody could tackle her, and managed to regather before crashing over the line. A successful conversion capped off what was a wonderful spectacle and the scores were tied up, seven apiece.

However, that would be Mellish’s only score, while they continued to make an absolute nuisance of themselves for the rest of the game, they were unable to find that final pass again. Their decision to run almost every penalty or free kick rather than aim for touch was commendable but it did mean they had a lot of work to do to clear their lines and get out of their own red zone. Mansfield were able to use this to keep the pressure on and kept adding to their own score.

Corah added a score of her own next, some good consistent phases seeing the ball worked out wide for her to bring it back round towards the posts. Successful converting her own score, the team edged back into the lead, 14-7. The next try followed a similar pattern, a rare kick to touch from the visitors was gathered by the home team, again put through the phases and saw Sarah Cafferty crashing through to score her team’s third. A missed conversion saw the half time score read 19-7 to the blue-and-whites.

The second half saw much of the same from both teams. Mansfield continued to build on their possession and territory and Mellish continued to be a pain in the neck, stealing what they could and disrupting wherever possible. A lot of Mansfield’s possession came from great pressure being exerted on the scrums and rucks, turnovers now becoming a potent weapon. This was exemplified by matchday sponsors Valve-Kits’ joint players of the match, Kelly-Jay Payling and Laina Corah.

Elodie Fleet was next on the scoresheet from one of these turnovers, quick passing seeing her take advantage of the space. This pattern continued, the home team really taking the game by the scruff of the neck and making sure each play was aimed towards the tryline. Marie-Ann Battersby and Amy Marshall showed why they continue to be an essential part of the core of this team as they were at the heart of everything, both getting themselves on the scoresheet. Mcgready added a second and Summer Hartshorn added the final score of the game, showing her growth as a player over the last season. Corah added one conversion while Hannah Parkinson added two to bring the final score to 50-7.

This was a really good victory and will no doubt be a good confidence booster. However, as good as the score was, and as heartless as it may be to find fault with such a performance, the blue-and-whites did leave a number of tries on the field, not always utilising the growing space and overlaps on the wings and giving away a lot of penalties in the second half. That said, a 50 point victory is to be celebrated and while credit must be given to a committed and fierce Mellish side, Mansfield showed real heart and determination here to spoil whatever they could and turn it into a attacking opportunity.