Rochdale Mayfield 44-10 Elland

Mayfield returned to the Mayfield Sports Centre after 3 weeks on the road and gave the home supporters plenty to shout about in an eight try demolition of Pennine neighbours Elland.

Mayfield were well served by the added direction given by the return to the team of halfback Sam Butterworth and were driven to victory by the non-stop efforts of man of the match Eric Johnson.

The home side made the worst possible start as in the first set they allowed a simple Elland attacker to slide through tackles for a 0-4 lead before Mayfield had even touched the ball.

That shock seemed to spark Mayfield into action though and they tightened up and got into the game – only for it to be stopped 5 minutes in as a visiting player suffered a serious leg injury. A 30 minute delay, whilst waiting for an ambulance, gave coach Sam Butterworth time to focus the minds of his troops, and upon the restart Ben Butterworth took advantage of a repeat set on the Elland line to bust through, too wide out for Aidan Gleeson to convert.

4-all became 10-4 when on 15 minutes Ieuan Higgs, always a threat with ball in hand, broke the line for a 40 metre run, and on the next play Eric Johnson took the ball after two wide passes to the left, hit the defensive line and spun out under the sticks.

Gleeson converted that try and he added another 5 minutes later when Taurean Sheehan produced a fine right foot side-step and huge fend to crash over the try line from 20 metres out.

Mayfield were well on top now and despite gallant efforts by the visitors, Eric Johnson followed strong lead-up drives by Joe Qanuici and Ben Simpson, to scoot over the line for a Sam Butterworth converted try. Elland tried to hit back on 32 minutes, and would have scored on in the right corner but for never-say-die defence by Nick Hargreaves and Rob Kershaw who held up the attacker over the line.

Mayfield turned defence into attack and finished the half well when sam Butterworth and Todd O’Brien turned a simple run around move into points, with Butterworth stepping through the tiring cover. Ieuan Higgs converted for a 28-4 half time lead that Mayfield earned with sparkling attack and tough defence, and organisational direction that has been missing in the last few weeks.

The second half continued much as the first, as on 41 minutes Joe Qanuici stepped through the defence and bounced off the cover to score an unconverted try. Sam Butterworth added another try on 47 minutes, when he followed up a quick play the ball by Taurean Sheehan to step through the defence and race home untouched from 50 metres. Aidan Gleeson converted for a 38-4 lead.

Mayfield, perhaps knowing the game the was won, slipped into lazy mode and scorer wasn’t troubled for another 20 minutes as the game was played out midfield and only enlightened by the irrepressible efforts of Eric Johnson, who produced big hits and half breaks with his sheer effort to drive the team on. As it was Elland broke the stalemate with a good interchange of passes which exposed a lack of inside defensive effort from the Mayfield forwards.

38-10 and Mayfield showed that when they do the simple things well and work hard for each other on every play, that they are a force to be reckoned with. Strong forward drives got field position and slick left to right passes, along with off the ball angled running, created space for John Foy who passed inside for Simon Moore to race over the line. Aiden Gleeson converted for a 44-10 final score that gave Mayfield the 2 points and lifted them above Elland in the table.

Team: Ieuan Higgs, Rob Kershaw, Simon Moore, Ben Butterworth, Nick Hargreaves. Sam Butterworth, Eric Johnson. Luke Sampson, Todd O’Brien, Aiden Gleeson, Matty Moores, Joe Qanuici, Taurean Sheehan. Ian Sampson, James Kelly, John Foy, Ben Simpson.