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Sun 09 Feb 2014
U16sCleethorpes (To Be Played at Joseph Whitaker School, Rainworth)
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U15 V Cleethorpes
Kaylie Stuart11 Feb 2014 - 17:43
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Report by Roy Reeve
Mansfield U15s made the short journey to Joseph Whitaker School in Rainworth, who kindly hosted a home fixture for Mansfield against Cleethorpes U15s. Thanks to Jane Atherton, Sue Edwards and their team for making both teams very welcome and for the use of their excellent facilities on what was all agreed in view of the current wet weather a super “dry pitch.”
On a cold day, with windy conditions but a sound surface, Cleethorpes won the toss and elected to play down the strong breeze. Highly thought of referee Sam Musgrove picked up the whistle for Mansfield’s only second outing of the year, Mansfield started well and soaked up the pressure from the restart, the scrums were pretty even to start with, Cleethorpes having a marginal advantage. It was clear to see the windy conditions would play a major part and with good quality ball off the scrum and sustained pressure Cleethorpes opened their account with their forwards driving over the line.
Try converted 0 –7
The message to Mansfield was to be up quicker in defence to create some pressure and to stay in the game. Mansfield competed across the park and in general made life difficult for the visitors in one way or another so well done, credit where credit due! Cleethorpes fly half used the conditions well and put ball to boot to make Mansfield’s back three feel under pressure. A rushed defensive kick, due to the Cleethorpes chase, went out to the midfield invited a counter attack. The ball was moved wide to the opposite wing for the pacey winger to score. Brave fullback Jason Ladapo was injured in a collision with one of his own players attempting to stop the try and was a big miss.
Try unconverted 0-12
Still Mansfield kept their shape and made the visitors work hard for any possession and territory, timed ebbed on and Mansfield were still in the game. In fact Mansfield made inroads into the opposition half with some good line breaks by stand in Fly Half Trey Foster and Winger Tyler Carrington. The forwards buoyed by the go forward of the backs continued in the same vein with Martin Taylor, Chandler Gregory, Ross Smith and Jak Stevens all picking up big carries and big yardages. One such breakout saw Tyler go close and tackled into touch. From the resulting lineout the Cleethorpes Hooker was penalised. Throughout the whole game the Cleethorpes hooker struggled with his accuracy and this time he gifted Mansfield a scrum on their 5m Line. Mansfield should have scored from the resulting passages of play, as Cleethorpes constantly infringed and ended up with one in the sin bin. Mansfield couldn’t make the extra man or the close range penalty count. Oddly enough after the chance had been squandered Cleethorpes turn the ball over and returned the ball to Mansfield’s 5m line for Mansfield to be penalised. This time though, with a simple penalty move from scrum half to No 8, the ball carrier glided across to change the point of attack and to slip his marker across the whitewash, away from any knapping Mansfield defence, simples. Soon after Cleethorpes No 8 and skipper retired injured, their best player by far which reduced their attacking forward options.
Try converted 0-19 Half Time
At the turnaround, now with the strong wind Mansfield fancied closing the gap and even nicking the win??? From the restart Mansfield started to pile on the pressure and everyone was on the front foot. Only the scrum was creaking, which was a determining factor in the end result as Mansfield had no No8 picks throughout the whole game. Trey on a trademark run around the Cleethorpes defence scored a wonderful try and had the presence of mind to run it in under the posts for an easy conversion.
Score 7-19
THE GAMEBREAKER….Back in the game as promised and galvanised by the closing score line, more pressure was put onto the visitors and a penalty was soon awarded to Mansfield on Cleethorpes 10m line. Well, why not? The skipper pointed to the posts and Trey took on the kicking duties only to hit the post to rebound out to near the 22m line which he nearly re-gathered. Mansfield piled in only for Cleethorpes to come up with the ball once again and return it the length of the pitch to score despite the valiant efforts of Chandler and wing Lewis Millership. A real kick in the proverbials!!! A big 10pt swing…Ouch!!!
7-26 Try converted
Oh well, Mansfield down but not out and to their credit they started where they left off and with some good forward play setting the backs up in space. Trey had another go on an identical run only this time to be shepherded into touch from what the Mansfield coaches saw as a no handed tackle? Injury followed from the contact and our fly –half retired from the great game he was having, asking the coaching staff when he could return to the game for his teammates. Also Ben Heyes who dropped into fullback was brought off with a hand injury and when Martin Taylor came off with a suspect blow to his eye, later to be unfounded, Mansfield were down to 14 for a short while and compromised positionally across the team. Getting on with the job and with lots of pressure piled on by retaining our own ball Chandler came up with the ball and from short range had some work to do to score but by twisting, turning and reaching scores a well-deserved try. Smithy taking over the kicking duties just misses the extras. Martin Taylor asked to return after some attention and was outstanding in loose play nearly scoring and making line breaks on several occasions. Mansfield back to 15 with Justin Ladapo switched from scrum half to fly half and had a positive impact on the game for Mansfield.
Score 12-26
The final quarter in this enjoyable game saw the Cleethorpes lads, who always stuck to the task and showed a little more understanding of the game; put the Mansfield scrum under pressure and negating their lineout problems. Mansfield, however, never put ball to boot (partially down to the enforced changes at 10) and didn’t make most of the strong wind advantage in the second half. Part of that lack of understanding showed when a penalty was given to the visitors, in a rare visit to the Mansfield 22m. The home team lined up nearer to 20m away and not the standard 10m. Mansfield also didn’t close the now larger space down only for Cleethorpes to get their second big ball carrier past the knapping defence, then to spread the ball wide after one phase to score in the corner.
Not converted 12- 31
Picking themselves up again with a rallying call from Weszley Andrews – Sealey, who had a good day scrummaging and in the loose, Mansfield with 5mins left attacked through forwards and backs for Tyler to again go close to be pushed into touch. Once again the visitors lineout throw was askew and the resulting Mansfield scrum held solid this time to give Smithy, who asked to come back on after injury, just enough room to power over and score, unconverted.
Final score 17-31
In summing up, another positive step forward for this developing U15s Mansfield side They had done enough to unsettle a good Cleethorpes team and go close, closer than the score line suggests, who played more together as a unit. Thanks again to everyone involved with the logistics of making this fixture happen and a contest fairly officiated.
On a cold day, with windy conditions but a sound surface, Cleethorpes won the toss and elected to play down the strong breeze. Highly thought of referee Sam Musgrove picked up the whistle for Mansfield’s only second outing of the year, Mansfield started well and soaked up the pressure from the restart, the scrums were pretty even to start with, Cleethorpes having a marginal advantage. It was clear to see the windy conditions would play a major part and with good quality ball off the scrum and sustained pressure Cleethorpes opened their account with their forwards driving over the line.
Try converted 0 –7
The message to Mansfield was to be up quicker in defence to create some pressure and to stay in the game. Mansfield competed across the park and in general made life difficult for the visitors in one way or another so well done, credit where credit due! Cleethorpes fly half used the conditions well and put ball to boot to make Mansfield’s back three feel under pressure. A rushed defensive kick, due to the Cleethorpes chase, went out to the midfield invited a counter attack. The ball was moved wide to the opposite wing for the pacey winger to score. Brave fullback Jason Ladapo was injured in a collision with one of his own players attempting to stop the try and was a big miss.
Try unconverted 0-12
Still Mansfield kept their shape and made the visitors work hard for any possession and territory, timed ebbed on and Mansfield were still in the game. In fact Mansfield made inroads into the opposition half with some good line breaks by stand in Fly Half Trey Foster and Winger Tyler Carrington. The forwards buoyed by the go forward of the backs continued in the same vein with Martin Taylor, Chandler Gregory, Ross Smith and Jak Stevens all picking up big carries and big yardages. One such breakout saw Tyler go close and tackled into touch. From the resulting lineout the Cleethorpes Hooker was penalised. Throughout the whole game the Cleethorpes hooker struggled with his accuracy and this time he gifted Mansfield a scrum on their 5m Line. Mansfield should have scored from the resulting passages of play, as Cleethorpes constantly infringed and ended up with one in the sin bin. Mansfield couldn’t make the extra man or the close range penalty count. Oddly enough after the chance had been squandered Cleethorpes turn the ball over and returned the ball to Mansfield’s 5m line for Mansfield to be penalised. This time though, with a simple penalty move from scrum half to No 8, the ball carrier glided across to change the point of attack and to slip his marker across the whitewash, away from any knapping Mansfield defence, simples. Soon after Cleethorpes No 8 and skipper retired injured, their best player by far which reduced their attacking forward options.
Try converted 0-19 Half Time
At the turnaround, now with the strong wind Mansfield fancied closing the gap and even nicking the win??? From the restart Mansfield started to pile on the pressure and everyone was on the front foot. Only the scrum was creaking, which was a determining factor in the end result as Mansfield had no No8 picks throughout the whole game. Trey on a trademark run around the Cleethorpes defence scored a wonderful try and had the presence of mind to run it in under the posts for an easy conversion.
Score 7-19
THE GAMEBREAKER….Back in the game as promised and galvanised by the closing score line, more pressure was put onto the visitors and a penalty was soon awarded to Mansfield on Cleethorpes 10m line. Well, why not? The skipper pointed to the posts and Trey took on the kicking duties only to hit the post to rebound out to near the 22m line which he nearly re-gathered. Mansfield piled in only for Cleethorpes to come up with the ball once again and return it the length of the pitch to score despite the valiant efforts of Chandler and wing Lewis Millership. A real kick in the proverbials!!! A big 10pt swing…Ouch!!!
7-26 Try converted
Oh well, Mansfield down but not out and to their credit they started where they left off and with some good forward play setting the backs up in space. Trey had another go on an identical run only this time to be shepherded into touch from what the Mansfield coaches saw as a no handed tackle? Injury followed from the contact and our fly –half retired from the great game he was having, asking the coaching staff when he could return to the game for his teammates. Also Ben Heyes who dropped into fullback was brought off with a hand injury and when Martin Taylor came off with a suspect blow to his eye, later to be unfounded, Mansfield were down to 14 for a short while and compromised positionally across the team. Getting on with the job and with lots of pressure piled on by retaining our own ball Chandler came up with the ball and from short range had some work to do to score but by twisting, turning and reaching scores a well-deserved try. Smithy taking over the kicking duties just misses the extras. Martin Taylor asked to return after some attention and was outstanding in loose play nearly scoring and making line breaks on several occasions. Mansfield back to 15 with Justin Ladapo switched from scrum half to fly half and had a positive impact on the game for Mansfield.
Score 12-26
The final quarter in this enjoyable game saw the Cleethorpes lads, who always stuck to the task and showed a little more understanding of the game; put the Mansfield scrum under pressure and negating their lineout problems. Mansfield, however, never put ball to boot (partially down to the enforced changes at 10) and didn’t make most of the strong wind advantage in the second half. Part of that lack of understanding showed when a penalty was given to the visitors, in a rare visit to the Mansfield 22m. The home team lined up nearer to 20m away and not the standard 10m. Mansfield also didn’t close the now larger space down only for Cleethorpes to get their second big ball carrier past the knapping defence, then to spread the ball wide after one phase to score in the corner.
Not converted 12- 31
Picking themselves up again with a rallying call from Weszley Andrews – Sealey, who had a good day scrummaging and in the loose, Mansfield with 5mins left attacked through forwards and backs for Tyler to again go close to be pushed into touch. Once again the visitors lineout throw was askew and the resulting Mansfield scrum held solid this time to give Smithy, who asked to come back on after injury, just enough room to power over and score, unconverted.
Final score 17-31
In summing up, another positive step forward for this developing U15s Mansfield side They had done enough to unsettle a good Cleethorpes team and go close, closer than the score line suggests, who played more together as a unit. Thanks again to everyone involved with the logistics of making this fixture happen and a contest fairly officiated.
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