Rochdale Mayfield 40 – 26 Oulton Raiders

Photo: Aidan Gleeson

Liam Whalley going at the defence

Mayfield showed how they have adjusted to life in the premier division at the Mayfield Sports Centre on Saturday as they disposed of opposition Oulton Raiders in this ARD Industrial Services sponsored game.

Oulton came up as champions last year pipping Mayfield by just one point but the gulf in class was plain to see as Mayfield, despite a somewhat flat performance, put Oulton to the sword.

Both teams started strongly with Oulton being held up over the line twice in the first ten minutes.

Dave Woods and Seta Tala were kept busy in the Mayfield defence on the left while Ben Butterworth, Callum Marriott and Eric Johnson were kept on their toes down the middle.

It took fifteen minutes for Mayfield to break the deadlock as Sam Butterworth latched onto a neat ball from Dave Wood to cross for a Lewis Sheridan converted try.

Mayfield clicked into gear and started to throw the ball about. This paid dividends as Butterworth kicked through on the last and Paul Brearley beat the defence to the ball for another Sheridan converted try.

Mayfield looked good until a blip in defence allowed Oulton in for a score.

Mayfield looked to have sealed the game by half time as they added two more tries from Johnson and a 60metre effort from Brearley, who swooped on a loose ball and went through untouched.

Half time: Rochdale Mayfield 22 – 6 Oulton Raiders

Within two minutes of the restart Johnson had Aida Gleeson over to extend Mayfield's lead.

Oulton had a twenty minute spell where they played some smart rugby and caught out a sleeping Mayfield defence with four unanswered tries putting them just six points behind.

Strong running from Gaz Ellison turned the game back in Mayfield's favour as Oulton found it difficult to hold him. The rest of the side rallied with him, Liam Whalley in particular took the game to Oulton and Mayfield were rewarded with two quick tries from Ben Butterworth.

Oulton still weren’t out of it and it took a Seta Tala score ten minutes from time to seal the game although Oulton managed to pull one back.

A good win for Mayfield which pushed them up the table one place.

The sponsors, ARD Industrial Services, Man-of-the-Match award went to strong running Aussie centre Dave Wood while the coaches gave their award to Aidan Gleeson.