February 16th, 2010
Carnegie Challenge Cup
Second Round
Rochdale Mayfield 18
Leigh East 34
NATIONAL Conference premier division leaders Leigh East had too much pace and power for Rochdale Mayfield when the two teams met in the second round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup, at Castleton Sports Centre on Saturday.
And the visitors used this to good effect, finding the cutting edge that was often lacking in the Mayfield attack.
To their credit, the hosts stuck to their task, battling to the end with great commitment and scoring two late tries to give a scoreline which reflected that effort.
Mayfield were trailing 30-2 at the hour mark and many teams might at this stage have thrown in the towel. This, though, is not the Mayfield way and they played their best rugby of the match in the final quarter, winning the second half by 16-12.
Leading the way for Mayfield was Australian duo Joe Robinson and Andrew Moroney, who got through a prodigious amount of work in attack and defence. They received excellent support from hooker Tod O’Brien and scrum half Eamon Hillen, whose darting runs were a constant thorn in the side of the Leigh defence.
All in all it was an excellent team performance against a well drilled and pacy Leigh outfit. Mayfield coaches Sam Butterworth and Tony Appleyard will have taken plenty of positives from the display and, hopefully, it will provide a platform on which to build a successful second half to the season.
Mayfield enjoyed the early pressure and a high tackle brought them a penalty in front of the posts which Hillen converted.
Leigh gave an indication of what was to come with a flowing move, only to see Gareth Pemberton drop the ball as he stretched for the line.
The visitors then broke from deep, fullback Ryan Fieldhouse brushing off a series of powder-puff tackles. The ball was moved to Daniel Kilshaw, who cantered in for a try. Ryan Peters added the extras.
Mayfield withstood a series of attacks, before Tod O’Brien broke out with a scything run. He handed on to Moroney, took the return pass but was tackled just short of the line.
Leigh responded and a missed move on the left sent the speedy Carl Redford in for a try. Peters tagged on the two.
Indiscipline then proved costly for the home team as two penalties in close succession set up a try for the visitors, Redford again the scorer.
Mayfield pushed for a reply, a slick move between Robinson and Hillen creating a chance for Ben Butterworth. He was tackled and appeared to receive some rough treatment on the ground as Leigh looked to slow the play down. He reacted and along with John Taylor was yellow-carded. Amazingly, the penalty went to Leigh.
And, with four minutes of stoppage time played the visitors were again awarded a penalty close to the Mayfield line. The ball was swung left for the impressive Redford to complete his hat trick. Peters converted for a 22-2 interval lead.
Mayfield started the second half strongly, but handling errors at key moments frustrated their efforts to get back into the match.
Thoughts of a comeback were finally put to bed in the 53rd minute when the home team were fast asleep at a restart on the 22. The quick-thinking Kilshaw sent Redford racing clear for a fine try.
Another soon followed after a superb passage of play saw Redford turn provider to send Andrew Groves in at the corner.
The home team rather than feel sorry for themselves hit back, a barging run from Aidy Gleeson taking them close to the line. O’Brien did the rest, nipping in from acting half for a trademark try. Hillen converted.
Leigh again responded, Steven Grundy collecting Peters’ neat chip and outpacing the Mayfield cover to score out wide.
Mayfield summoned their last ounce of energy, Gleeson and Robinson linking to create a gap for Moroney to gallop in for a try.
The hosts had the final say when a quick tap penalty saw Robinson burst on to the ball at full speed and there was no stopping him as he powered in for a try. Hillen made it a six-pointer with the final kick of the match.
ROCHDALE MAYFIELD: Kershaw, Lane, Moore, Wood, Jopson, Hillen, Ben Butterworth, Coombes, O’Brien, Brett, Moroney, Robinson, Atkinson, Sampson, Gleeson, Moore, Simpson.
Mayfield NWC turned in probably their worst team performance of the season at the Mayfield Sports Centre on sat. with a full strength squad to select from Ashworth could have been forgiven for thinking that this was a game they were going to win, in fact after fifteen minutes at 6-0 up it looked like the home side were at last going to get back to winning ways. However it was not to be after some slack defence and a string of needless penalties allowed Leyland to win the game comfortably 6- 30. Mayfield started brightly with some fluent attacking rugby coupled with some sterling work in defence Richard Yeomans showed a touch of class when he threw a dummy and left defenders grasping at thin air as he crossed by the posts, Marsland converted, and then it all went wrong four or five sets of six on the Mayfield line proved to much and Leyland crossed for a score they hadn’t previously looked capable of, this seemed to stun the home side who just went to pieces. Once they had the lead the visitors never looked back and went on to play the type of rugby Mayfield had started with. The irony is, Leyland were no better than Mayfield they were just allowed everything they needed to allow them to play rugby, time, space and possession. If they want to avoid relegation Mayfield are going to have to get it together soon and start playing like a team instead of thirteen strangers on the pitch. It may seem strange to say but there were positives that came from the game and some strong individual performances, namely Ellis in both attack and defence, Andre Durrand who put in some bone crunching tackles, Paul Day who proved a handful in attack all afternoon and young Paul Hancock who continued his solid vein of form.
There’s plenty to work on in training most importantly game play situations because one up rugby won’t win you games, and commitment in defence because missed tackles will cost you games.
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