Mayfield Rugby League

Mayfield 20 East Hull 27

Mayfield 20 East Hull 27

With the morning’s sunshine just a memory and the clouds gathering over the Castleton Sports Centre today’s visitors were East Hull.

Within the first couple of minutes both sides had been penalised for off-side by Mr Smith who then proved to be rather whistle happy for the rest of the afternoon!

However in the 9th minute Mayfield struck the first blow when No 7 Michael Brown found No 13 Matt Calland who galloped off to the Hull 20 before being brought down. From the play the ball No 6 Eric Johnson found Brown who put in a neat grubber for No12 Ryan Douglas to pounce on for a well taken try! No 5 Mike Kaufman slotting over the extra two points 6 – 0.

In the 15th minute Hull’s No12 Christopher Lyth broke through some poor tackling swatting off defenders to make 40 metres only to be brought down by No 2 Rob Kershaw. The next play saw a penalty to Hull for a high shot. From the tap No 9 Gareth Norris passed to No 10 Lee Cator to crash over. No 7 Scott Yeaman adding the two to level the scores 6 - 6.

5 minutes later penalty against Hull for not playing the ball correctly gave Kaufman a shot at goal from 40 metres out which sailed over to retake the lead 8 – 6.

From the restart on 22 minutes Mayfield collected the ball and in the ensuing high tackle heads and fists were flung after which Hull’s No11 Liam Reid and Mayfield’s No 9 Neil Ramsden got straight red cards!

Mayfield again threatened in the 25th minute when an Eric Johnson kick from Mayfield’s 30 metre splitting the Hull full back and winger and pinning Hull back in their 20 after a good chase!

Hull replied on 30 minutes with a tremendous run down the right wing by No 2 Greg Blanchard only to lose possession with a wayward inside pass on Mayfield’s 10 metre line!

In the 39th minute a harsh decision that Rob Kershaw knocked on in the tackle when the ball obviously travelled backwards gave Scott Yeaman the chance to level the scores which he did with the half time whistle sounding after the ball crossed the bar 8 – 8.

The second half started with Mayfield losing the ball on the second play and on 42 minutes Yeaman popped a grubber through for Lee Hall to get to first to put Hull in front. Yeaman added the extras 8 – 14.

Mike Kaufman made a great run up the right wing on 45 minutes to within 10 metres of the Hull line, but a knock on from the play the ball gave Hull the scrum who then knocked on from the base of the scrum. Not to be outdone Mayfield replicated the same move from the ensuing scrum? A comedy of errors to say the least with the Hull line only 10 metres away and possession given up so easily?

Mayfield did get back on the attack in the 50th minute when after territory was gained over four plays to five metres out from the hull posts and from the next play Eric Johnson put the rampaging Matt Calland in with a short pass left. Kaufman again added the two to level the scores once again at 14 – 14.

For the next 10 minutes too many wrong options and sloppy passes foiled Mayfield’s attempts to go in front. In the 62 minutes Hull had worked the ball down field and on the last play full back Jason Abdul put Christopher Lyth in from close range. Yeaman again converted to put Hull back in front at 14 – 20.

Mayfield again fought back and within 3 minutes on the 65th a grubber from Michael Brown bobbled past the clutching fingers of Abdul for Brown to follow up and touch down. Kaufman added to two to again level the score at 20 – 20.

Hull again came forward in 70th minute and looked to be contained when everyone and his dog could see them setting up on the last for a one-pointer from Yeaman, but closing him down he threw the ball over his shoulder to fortunately land in No 8 Lee Brown’s hands who dropping it on his toe saw it skew over the bar. He’ll never kick another like that as long as he has a hole in his bottom? 20 – 21.

Craig Highton was stripped of the ball by Abdul who cleared off to an open line only to be hauled down by Carl Abraham 10 metres short, but Ref mr Smith again handed Hull the advantage with another penalty for an alleged high shot. Lee Cator managed to cross the whitewash, but was held up, but from the play the ball Yeaman fired the ball out to Lyth who scampered in virtually unopposed. Yeaman again added the extras and the final whistle sounded bringing a final score of 20 – 27.

A much better performance from Mayfield spoiled only by the completion rate and discipline? Carl Abraham had a very good game at full back and again Eric Johnson caused Hull many problems. Matt Calland has made a big difference in attack but Mayfield need to support the player with the ball a lot more and the habit of turning back into traffic is costing us dear when the wings would have probably provided a better option?

I’m sure it won’t be long before Mayfield turn round this bad run and start racking up some points to climb away from the base of the division.

Unfortunately this will be my last report until the end of January as I’m off to Australia this Tuesday for the World Cup and some R & R in the sun.
I’ll be logging on to hopefully see the improvements week by week so “come on Mayfield you can do it?”

Mayfield:
1 Carl Abraham 2 Rob Kershaw 3 Steve Wood 4 Craig Highton 5 Mike Kaufman 6 Eric Johnson 7 Michael Brown 8 Matty Moores 9 Neil Ramsden 10 Chris Brett 11 Sam Wynn 12 Ryan Douglas 13 Matt Calland 14 Ben Coombes 15 John Foy 16 Jamie Knight 17 Ben Clare.

East Hull:
1 Jason Abdul 2 Greg Blanchard 3 Danny Hill 4 Lee Hall 5 Michael McGowan 6 Tommy Brett 7 Scott Yeaman 8 Lee Brown 9 Gareth Norris 10 Lee Cator 11 Liam Reid 12 Christopher Lyth 13 Dale Blakely 14 Jordan Cox 15 Michael Docherty 16 Lee Roberts 17 Dean Cox.