Mayfield 38 - 10 Stanningley

Mayfield 38 - 10 Stanningley

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Mayfield secured another two points with a convincing 38 – 10 victory over bottom club Stanningley.

This was, to say the least, a very scrappy game with a whistle happy referee who gave sixteen penalties in the first half alone. With so many stoppages the game never really flowed as it could have and with Mayfield conceding ten of those penalties they had to defend for long periods, allowing their opponents to stay within touching distance until midway through the second half when, in reality, they should have never been in the game.

Mayfield started brightly with Sam Butterworth going close after five minutes but the pacey Stanninley full back managed to chase him down and make the tackle.

When they played rugby, Mayfield looked by far the better time team until either the referee blew or their own mistakes caused them to lose possession.

Stanningley continued to press and it was from one of their attacking kicks that Jack Sampson picked up the ball evaded two would be tacklers and raced 70 metres to open the scoring Aiden Gleeson converted, 6 – 0.

The Mayfield forwards were making the hard yards up field now with Ben Simpson and Si Moore doing particularly well in this respect.

Gleeson forged his way down the middle only to be halted by a high tackle. From the resulting penalty Todd O’brien fed Paul Brearley who found a gap in the line, with two men trying to bring him down he still had the strength and determination to reach out and ground the ball Ieuan Higgs converted, 12 – 0.

Stanningley refused to give in and only some determined defence from Brearley, Eric Johnson and Taurean Sheehan kept them at bay. Within minutes of the second half starting, Mayfield had again surrendered possession, the visitors capitalised on this and pulled a score back 12- 6.

Mayfield then had a purple patch, showing what they are capable of if they cut the errors and play rugby. The home side scored the next three ties through Sheehan, Jack Sampson and Ben Simpson to effectively seal the game, 28 – 6.

Still refusing to lie down Stanningley forced an error in the Mayfield twenty to get possession from where their powerful centre grabbed an unconverted try, 28 – 10.

With the introduction of Joel Hinchcliffe, Mayfield restructured with Butterworth pushing out to centre and this was probably their best spell of the game, Ieuan Higgs became more involved and showed some quality touches linking well with John Foy on the wing.

With ten minutes to go Kershaw made a break down the right on the last tackle. He made thirty metres before putting in a kick towards the posts, where a stroke of luck saw the ball bounce straight into the hands of Sam Butterworth who stumbled over for a try, 34 – 10.

Kershaw was again involved as he broke away slipped the pass to Ben Simpson. A quick play the ball saw Todd O’Brien put Si Moore through the gap and sprinted 25 metres to round off the scoring, 38 – 10.

This was a comprehensive victory for Mayfield and they played some good rugby when the referee allowed the game to flow. Their defence was also very good with Paul Brearley making thirty tackles and not missing a single one, a fantastic effort from a stand off. Eric Johnson was again outstanding and Gaz Sharrocks and Mark Biggins both made a telling impact from the bench. The opposition coach gave the MOM to Jack Sampson who, along with two full length tries proved too hot to handle all afternoon.

Mayfield Team: Jack Sampson, Rob Kershaw, Sean Snape, Ieuan Higgs, John Foy, Paul Brearley, sam Butterworth, Matty Moores, Todd O’Brien, Aiden Gleeson, Si Moore, Taurean Sheehan, Eric Johnson, Joel Hinchcliffe, Mark Biggins, Gaz Sharrocks, Ben Simpson.