1st XV
Matches
Sat 16 Feb 2019  ·  Midlands 3 East (North)
Ashfield
25
20
Mansfield Rugby Club
1st XV
Visitors denied as home team secure victory

Visitors denied as home team secure victory

Paul Race18 Feb 2019 - 11:44
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Report by Andy Foster

Ashfield took their chances to record a well earned and hard fought victory over Mansfield to avenge their defeat at Eakring Road in October.
Head Coach Wayne Robinson said, “We knew this would be a tough game as they are having a great season. I thought both sides played well for long periods. It was a good game of rugby and we had our chances to win”.
They certainly did have chances to win as they fought their way back into the game. However, having previously been denied two tries in the game with the official deciding the ball was held up over the line on both occasions, the third and final denial was perhaps the most cruel of all.
With the final play of the game and the score at 25-20 in Ashfield’s favour, the Blue & Whites Flanker Richard Lindsay crashed through a tackle and over the line. Awarding the try would have meant at least a draw and the chance of a conversion for the visitors to win. However, as the Mansfield support celebrated and the Ashfield support held their collective head in their hands, the Referee arrived and after appearing to award the try decided to change his mind and deem the ball to have been held up yet again. The score remained as it was as the next movement ended play ensuring the home side took the spoils. Such is the pain of sport.
This is not to deny the supreme effort that put Ashfield into amassing acommanding 20 points to 3 lead in the first half which was delivered with an air of total control. This was a stellar period for the home side. Despite Mansfield taking the lead with a Regan Hubbard penalty after eight minutes, the next blistering 20 minutes belonged to the home side as they ran in three excellent and unanswered tries, which could easily have buried the game. As a result, with ten minutes of the half to go, the scoreboard read 20-3 and all was seemingly lost for Mansfield.
However, credit must go to the visitors for arresting the onslaught and taking the game back to Ashfield. Perhaps with a sign of things to come Bobby Ogunode topped a fine performance with a try on the 35 minute mark as the half came to a close. Regan Hubbard adding the extras to close the gap to 20-10 at half time.
Just after the restart, Ryan Hill was high tackled in the act of scoring and the Referee awarded a penalty try to Mansfield bringing the score to 17-20. Just five minutes later Regan Hubbard added a further penalty to his haul tying the scores at 20-20 and the tension became ever more palpable.
With Mansfield in the ascendancy, Ashfield were forced to dig deep in defence. Despite a yellow card for Ashfield they demonstrated why they are second placed in the league by manufacturing a further breakaway try from nothing to extend their lead to 25-20 as the third quarter closed.
The final quarter was tense and exciting as both teams crashed into contact and pushed the law to the limit with each side receiving a further yellow card. Both sides clearly wanted to win and attacked when they had the chance but also with both forced to defend robustly throughout.
A local derby is always guaranteed to be a thrilling and compelling encounter and this game was no exception. It was a tough and uncompromising spectacle which provided spectators with a great game of rugby, in which Ashfield deserved their victory and Mansfield can take at least some solace from an impressive fight back and securing a losing bonus point.
This week, Mansfield travel to Nottingham Moderns in the Notts Intermediate Cup Semi-Final. You can follow the action on Twitter @MansfieldRugby.

Match details

Match date

Sat 16 Feb 2019

Kickoff

14:15

Competition

Midlands 3 East (North)

League position

2
Ashfield
6
Mansfield
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Main Club Sponsor - AIPS
Match Sponsor - Rainworth Skoda
Club Sponsor - Stopfords Chartered Accountants