Mayfield 36 - 18 Saddleworth

Mayfield warmed up for Saturday's cup fixture with a comfortable 36 – 18 win over a lack lustre Saddleworth Rangers side at the Mayfield Sports Centre last Friday night.

This was a typical game of two halves with Mayfield running up a 26 – 2 half time lead with some fast flowing rugby and some great tries.

Nick Hargreaves grabbed the first two to add to his impressive tally this season, the second coming from yet another break from Paul Brearley. Brearley has shown some touches of real class in the last few games and is really making the team tick as he showed when he dummied his way through the Saddleworth defence for an Aidan Gleeson converted score.

Other first half tries came from Aidan Gleeson and Sam Butterworth.

With the game won, the second half lost a bit of sparkle and Mayfield seemed to lose their composure and some of the discipline they had shown in the first forty minutes. They continued to play the same good rugby but allowed Saddleworth back in the game with penalty after penalty.

Kristian Duffy and Hargreaves worked extra hard in defence along with Qanuici and Mitch Spackman who have been the scourge of teams this season.

Saddleworth actually won the second half but Mayfield won’t be dwelling on that after a first half performance that coach Sam Butterworth described as "savage".

Further tries came from Qanuici and Duffy to seal the game.

Other players to shine on the day were Dan Kaufman and Si Moore who both worked tirelessly for the cause.

A real down side to the game was the loss of Ben Butterworth with a broken arm. Ben will be greatly missed during his time out especially for his non-stop work in defence.

Team: Dan Kaufman, Kristian Duffy, Nick Hargreaves, Alex West, Komai Nualamatua, Paul Brearley, Sam Butterworth, Mitch Spackman, Todd O’Brien, Si Moore, Ben Butterworth, Eric Johnson, Joe Qanuici, Rob Kershaw, Aidan Gleeson, Seta Tala, Matty Moores.