Rugby league: Mayfield 50 - 24 Thatto Heath

What a way to start a top class game of rugby league on Saturday (10 June) and what a welcome start it was as the Mayfield Rugrats lead the NCL side out for their Premier division clash with Thatto Heath.

The Rugrats are aged between 2 and 6 yrs old and are coached by Si Moore, Jimmy Connaughton and Tyler White and are truly the future of this great club.

The best crowd of the season were mightily impressed by the sight on a red hot saturday afternoon and were cheering the team on before the game had even started 

The cards were on the table for visitors as they put the kick off out on the full, gifting Mayfield prime territory. Two strong drives from Ben Metcalfe saw them attacking the line and Lewis Butterworth got on the end of a good opening move to score in the corner with less than five minutes on the clock, Jordan Parr converted, 6 - 0.

Thatto got the ball back from the restart and pressured the Mayfield line but good defence from Harry Sheridan and Dakota Tolhurst kept them out. A very open game of rugby was developing and Mayfields biggest crowd of the year were loving the opening ten minutes. Both sides had scoring opportunities but both failed to finish. It took 15 minutes before the next score and it was worth the wait as Travis Long picked up a loose ball, broke the line and found the supporting Jordan Parr who carried on the move before finding James McDaid who finished in fine style, Parr converted, 12 - 0.

Mayfield again fluffed the restart and Thatto got a cheap try on the back of that, 12 - 4.

Mayfield were definitely looking to be the better side but there wasn't much between the two at this stage. Dev Long increased the gap with a well taken try out of nothing, Parr added the two. 18 - 4.

The next ten minutes sealed the game for Mayfield as first the Sheridan brothers combined for Harry to go over in the corner, 22 - 4.

Dec then created his own try as he scored from acting half, Parr converted, 28 - 4.

Again the restart was wasted as the ball was lost on the third tackle so instead of attacking Mayfield were now defending their own line. Great defence from Tala, Mills Fowden and the Longs made sure they didn't profit any more for the error. Half time 28 - 4.

It took Mayfield just four minutes of the second half to register their first try. A great kick from Cole Connolly was fumbled by the defence and Trav Long nipped in to score , converted by Parr, 34 - 4.

Once again Mayfield lost the ball just after the restart and Thatto didn't waste their opportunity as their big prop went through a huge gap by the sitcks, 34 - 10.

The rest of the half was a bit hit and miss with both sides feeling the effects of the heat. Tries were traded as both Harry and Dec Sheridan bagged their second and Thatto managed three to narrow the gap considerably but Mayfield rounded of the scoring with a very good try from Parr to make the final score 50 - 24.

With another impressive tally of 18 points Parr sneaked the man of the match award just pipping Dev and Trav Long.