Rugby League: Thornhill Trojans 52 - 0 Mayfield

Mayfield star performer - Wayne English

Mayfield travelled to Dewsbury side Thornhill further depleted by injuries and withdrawals, but still hoped for a better performance than that given by those on duty. The Rochdale side were out enthused by a much bigger and older side, who ran out easy winners scoring nine tries in the process.

Mayfield started solidly enough, with strong defending and then finishing their first set with a neat kick to turn over possession in the oppositions 20 metre line, but that was as good as it would get as the home side then made good yards against a static defence, offloaded at will and earned penalty after penalty to charge up field and find space out wide for their first try.

Thornhill added three more before the break with the only bright spots being intermittent pressure on Thornhill attack by the occasional Mayfield defender, Rob Kershaw putting in a particularly good stint in the pack, Cole Connolly being held up over the line on 25 minutes and Wayne English’s enthusiastic attempts to rouse some fire in his team-mates.

It was 22-0 at half time and hopes that Mayfield could do better in the second half were quickly dashed when Cole Connolly was penalised for being hit by a defender. Thornhill scored another try after being offside at a kick and then made it 34-0 with a try straight from the restart.

In the remaining 30 minutes Wayne Bannister made a great break from his own half, only to be hauled down by the cover with no support, Wayne English was held just short with a last tackle dash and a James Mills break came to nought when his pass to Luke Fowden, in a scoring position, was ruled forward.

Thornhill added three more tries as they were quicker to every loose ball, beneficiaries of every decision and most importantly running and tackling harder than the lacklustre Mayfield side, who know they are a better team than their performance in this defeat, but must show the enthusiasm and commitment needed, not just on matchdays like this, but throughout the week in training.

Man of the Match went to James McDaid, but he was pushed all the way by captain Wayne English and pack leader Luke Fowden.

Team:

Wayne English. Munya Samanyanga, Jack McConaghie, James McDaid, Keiran Harmer. Lewis Butterworth, Cole Connolly. Mark Biggins, Harry McDonald, Simon Moore, Rob Kershaw, Wayne Bannister, Luke Fowden. Nick Hargreaves, John Foy, Declan Sheridan, James Mills.