Rochdale Mayfield 10 Hunslet Warriors 24

Rob Kershaw heads for the line

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A large crowd attended this first summer league game at the Mayfield Sports Centre on Saturday hoping to see Mayfield take the spoils. Hunslet had other ideas though, the game started well with both sides giving a good account of themselves and both trying to move the ball around.

Hunslet were first on the score sheet after two missed tackles allowed them in for a converted try. Mayfield fought back against a very physical side who were putting in some punishing tackles, Saqib Murtza and the returning Terry Whaley were at the forefront making yards every time they got the ball, following one of Murtza’s breaks the ball found its way to Aiden Gleeson who had too much power for the Hunslet defence as he claimed his side’s first try in the summer era and then added the extras. 6-6.

Mayfield then seemed to lose the plot for the middle section of the game as a missed tackle gave their opponents another converted try then they all appeared to fall asleep as Hunslet’s massive centre took a quick tap from a penalty and raced half the length of the field to make the score 6-18.

Then in the second half after losing possession under their own sticks it looked like a cricket score was on the cards, 6- 24. However this seemed to shock the home side into action and they began to play some good rugby, taking the game to Hunslet and even looking the better side for the rest of the game.

Ben Simpson and Mark Biggins made good yards all over the pitch and the constant prompting of Tod O’Brien paid dividends with first O’Brien then Eric Johnson being held up over the line.

New signing Liam Whaley settled in and showed some good skill both in attack and defence, starting the move that saw Sean Snape grab a try 10 – 24.

It was too late to change the game but it gave his team mates a little more confidence and they played out the last ten minutes with some real pride and passion.

Apart from a bit of indiscipline and a couple of lapses in concentration this was not a bad performance from Mayfield and certainly shows there will be something to look forward to this season.

Youngster Ben Duffy put in a good performance as did Sammy Sampson and Carl Abraham but the MOM picked by the Hunslet coach was hooker Tod O’Brien.

Squad: Ieaun Higgs, Rob Kershaw, Carl Abraham, Sean Snape, John Foy, Eric Johnson, Ben Duffy, Aiden Gleeson, Tod O’Brien, Saqib Murtza, Ben Butterworth, Terry Whaley, Liam Whaley, Matty Moores, Mark Biggins, Ben Simpson, Ian Sampson.