Mayfield 44 – 12 Bradford Dudley Hill

Mayfield stretched their undefeated run to eight games, with a victory over table topping Bradford Dudley Hill at the Mayfield Sports Centre on Saturday (16 June).

Mayfield haven’t lost since their 90 point victory over Stanley Rangers, so this match was always going to be their toughest test.

Bradford came with a reputation for fast flowing rugby and a tough uncompromising defensive style. Mayfield, however, paid no heed to this. They played the opposition off the pitch with the best rugby seen by the home crowd for a long time.

Within ten minutes Mayfield had taken the lead as Jack Ashworth followed up a Paul Brearley kick and brilliantly scooped up the ball as he crashed over the line, Ieuan Higgs converted, 6-0.

The writing was already on the wall for the visitors, with Mayfield moving the ball around the pitch with ease.

Taurean Sheehan powered his way up field, finding Matt Calland in support. Calland managed to get the ball to Ieuan Higgs who crossed the line untouched, 10-0.

It wasn’t all one way traffic, as Bradford repeatedly tried to get back into the game; but Mayfield's defence was superb. Eric Johnson, Todd O’Brien and Ben Simpson put in some crunching tackles.

Mayfield prop, Mark Biggins, was also in fine form with fierce and powerful running. Bradford could not hold him as he made metres every time he got the ball. From one of these drives, Todd O’Brien found Brearley, who made another twenty metres before being brought down by three defenders. He was being tackled, yet somehow managed to offload the ball to Sheehan, who raced in for a Higgs converted try, 16-0.

Bradford then managed a score of their own, as an uncharacteristic Mayfield lapse allowed them in for a converted try, 16-6.

Mayfield managed another three tries before half time from Carl Abraham, a brilliant solo effort from Brearley and Jack Samson who was untouchable from fifteen metres, HT 32-6.

The loss of Sheehan with what turned out to be a broken ankle seemed to upset Mayfield's rhythm. Consequently, in the second half they never produced the same quality of rugby. It was still a great performance, especially defensively, as Bradford looked to get back in the game. Si Moore and Rob Kershaw worked tirelessly in that respect along with Kristian Duffy and Abraham.

After pressing the line for what seemed like an age, O’Brien decided, on the last tackle, to go for the power play he found Aidan Gleeson who crashed through the defenders for a try which Higgs converted, 38-6.

O’Brien then turned from creator into poacher as he threw an outrageous dummy to dive in by the posts, Higgs again converted, 44-6.

Bradford never gave up and managed to grab the last score of the game to make it 44-12.

Mayfield player coaches Matt Calland and Sam Butterworth were over the moon when the final whistle was blown, leaving their opposition looking shell-shocked.

 Mayfield out-played and out-classed their opponents; Samson, Higgs, Brearley and Ashworth were outstanding for Mayfield, but it wasn’t just the youngsters who excelled on the day, Biggins, Moore, Simpson, Johnson and O’Brien had fantastic games as well. The unanimous choice for man of the match was Paul Brearley who was non stop for the full eighty minutes; he was pushed closely by Jack Samson and Todd O’Brien.

Mayfield will be without star player Taurean Sheehan for the next six to eight weeks after he sustained a broken ankle in the game, he sees a specialist this week to assess the extent of the damage.

Mayfield Team: Jack Sampson, Ieuan Higgs, Matt Calland, Carl Abraham, Rob Kershaw, Sam Butterworth, Paul Brearley, Mark Biggins, Todd O’Brien, Ben Simpson, Taurean Sheehan, Jack Ashworth , Eric Johnson, Aidan Gleeson, , Paul Lane, Simon Moore, Kristian Duffy.