Mayfield Rugby League

05/01/2008 Mayfield 24 East Hull 18

05/01/2008 Mayfield 24 East Hull 18

By “Mad Mal The Mauler”

With the bad weather of this week having a break today was a good day for Rugby League in fine and dry conditions boding well for a clash between top-of-the-table East Hull who have been on good form of late and Mayfield who were on a five game winning streak in the Premier Division!

The first attack came on 3 minutes from Scott Yeaman kick through just failing to penetrate the Mayfield defence when Ben Heaton picked the ball up on the line and returned almost the to halfway line with a fine run to relieve the pressure. Mayfield then pressed forward with a promising attack ending with Hull taking the ball dead and having to kick out from under their post. Komah Naumatou collecting the ball and haring off towards the Hull twenty metre line and passing on to Pete Draper who hoisted out an adjudged iffy forward pass for the move to break down 5 metres out!

Hull worked the ball right down to the Mayfield 20 until a blatant knock-on missed by Mr Farrell had to be redressed by the diligent touchie, otherwise Mayfield would have been under the cosh again?

On 9 minutes a sweeping move across field only failed to bag a certain try when Carl Abraham knocked on when he took his eye off the ball with the line at his mercy! It was cut and thrust with both sides taking the ball up field and just coming up short notably Hull’s No1 Shaun Painter making a lovely run from his 20 metre line just to be hauled down on ‘Field’s 30 metre line.

A penalty against Mayfield on 12 minutes resulted Gareth Norris squeezing over the whitewash for the first try of he game and Gary Blanchard converting 0 – 6

On 16 minutes a move started by Janan Billings ended with Carl Abrahams jinking his way through to touch down under the sticks. Steve Gartland stepping up to convert 6 – 6 The penalties seemed to be coming thick and fast from a pedantic Mr Farrell and yet another for a high shot on 20 minutes gave Hull a chance to go in front which Blanchard gratefully converted 6 – 8

Only a minute later Mayfield were awarded a penalty for obstruction and Steve Gartland evened up the score to make it 8 – 8

In the 22 minute Ryan (Roy) Douglas was introduced after his long absence from the knee injury he got at Oulton Raiders two months ago to immediately make a bullocking run into the solid Hull defensive wall.

On 25 minutes a beaut of a break from Janan Billings darting left and right to dodge tackles offloaded a neat pass to Matt Calland who stormed over to slam the ball down to the left of the posts, Garts took the conversion easily 14 – 8

On 30 minutes Shaun Painter made a stunning break leaving Mayfield defenders in his wake only to be stopped in a last ditch tackle by Komah Naumatau dislodging the ball from his grasp to earn a scrum for Mayfield and save what could easily have been a Hull try!

On 35 minutes a barnstorming run from Dave Harmer handing on to Matt Calland who heaved the ball along the line from left to right ended with Chris Hilton diving in at the right corner for a well taken try. From out wide Steve Gartland failed to make the kick 18 – 8.

The cut and thrust continued after the break with Hull showing how they got to the top of the pile with sustained pressure on the Mayfield defensive line, which was showing why they have been so hard to break down of late! A cheeky steal by Tony Hilton on 44 minutes dispossessed a Hull attacker and started a Mayfield charge at the slightly disorganised Hull line ending with Chris Hilton going in for a try in the right hand corner. The attempted conversion by Steve Gartland just died and slipped under the crossbar 22 – 8.

Again under the cosh by Hull, Chris Hilton managed to collect a wayward pass and hare up field to the halfway line where a kick from Steve Gartland was taken in-goal by Shaun Painter!

In the 53rd minute yet another penalty 15 metres out from Mayfield’s line gave Hull a chance which they took a minute later touching down under the sticks with Gary Blanchard making the conversion 22 – 14.

On 60 minutes a cross field kick by Pete Draper was nicely taken by Liam Reid just in time to foil the onrushing Mayfield attackers.

69 minutes saw another penalty in the Mayfield red zone for an apparent comment by a ‘Field player resulting in Hull getting a try in the left hand corner after the ball went right to left through several Hull hands, this time Blanchard couldn’t convert 22 – 18. The pressure was on now and some of the Mayfield lads looked a bit jaded as they had played their socks off and Hull seemed to up the anti as they now could sense a possible result?

On 75 minutes Janan Billings was tackled just inside the Hull half and while Mr Farrell jogged into the defensive line with his back to play Billings copped a deliberate elbow in the mush while on his back! The intervention of both TJ’s only result in a penalty to Mayfield, but one of the Hull staff in the dug-out was red carded for his remarks to the ref, but the perpetrator of the elbow got nothing? From almost the halfway line Steve Gartland hoofed the ball clean between the sticks for what turned out to be the final score 24 – 18. Hull did have one last chance when a short kick off was retrieved, but a couple of tackles later Blanchard decided to try to take off when he thought the tackle on him hadn’t been completed, but the ref had a different view of it, much as his view of the rest of the game.

Mr Farrell must have had a new whistle for Xmas considering the amount of times he blew it in the 80 minutes and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still blowing it on his way home?

Mayfield’s winning streak now is 6, let’s hope they can continue it next week at West Hull who are just outside the relegation zone, dangerous opponents down there fighting for survival!

Again all the Mayfield lads did a sterling job today against very tough opponents with several top class performers especially in their forwards 14 Liam Reid, 16 Lee Roberts and 8 Lee Brown excelling.

The Hull M-O-T-M Shaun Painter was a handful from start to finish!
Mayfield’s M-0-T-M was Janan Billings giving another great display of speed and agility!
Komah Naumatua bagged the Sponsors M-O-T-M for another splendid effort where he missed nothing at the back and gave some terrific runs forward.