Mayfield Rugby League

Leigh East v Mayfield

With so many games over the last month or two being lost to the weather and Cup competitions it is six week since Mayfield last had a competitive run out and today found themselves away to Leigh East who, before kick off, were lying 6^th in the Premier Division.

 The first 10 to 15 minutes saw both sides probing each others defence, but with little success and mistakes costing both sides penalties. However some good handling saw 21 Danny Kilshaw opening the scoring under the posts followed by an easy conversion of his own try in East’s favour 6 -0

Barely a couple of minutes No10 Craig Wingfield looked to knocked on over the line, but the ball was deemed to have been ripped out by a Mayfield hand and from the subsequent penalty Wingfield made no mistake when the ball came out to him on the left and crashed in to score. This time Kilshaw sliced his kick wide. 10 – 0

Immediately from the re-start Leigh knocked on. No9 Todd O’Brien caught the Leigh defence napping and squirmed his way over at the side of the upright. 10 – 4 Jonny Marsland added the extras to narrow the gap 10 – 6 with 25 minutes gone!

Mayfield had their tails up now and Leigh were on the rack when O’Brien sent a kick into their in goal where the scrambling defenders only just managed to hack the ball out after a couple of attempts to gather the bouncing egg conceding a drop out from under the posts.

The 30^th minute saw a good move started in Leigh’s half with passes from right to left ending up in No14 Gavin Hunter’s hands with him streaking off down the touchline and only a desperate lunge from Mayfield’s Steve Wood was enough to make a foot touch the whitewash to save a certain try!

On 35 minutes Mayfield were again deep down Leigh’s half with No12 Simon Moore making the hard yards slipping a pass to No 11 Ryan Douglas who even with the attention of several defenders forced his way over the line for a fine try. Marsland again adding the 2 taking Mayfield into the lead 10 – 12

37 minutes saw Todd O’Brien again force his way over the line, but was held up denying him a second try.

With half time seconds away an up and under by O’Brien to the left corner ended up in Komah Naumatua’s hands a to touch down, but the touch judge spotted a knock on by Steve Wood and the ‘try’ was disallowed! The whistle duly brought the half to a close with Mayfield looking pretty comfortable.

Right from the re-start Rhino Douglas lived up to his nickname by making a great run through. From the play the ball McKenna Gibson bamboozled the Leigh defence with a terrific cross field run beating 5 or 6 tacklers and offloaded 5 metres out to the supporting Jamie Knight for a great try. Again Marsland added the extras 10 -18

The next 10 minutes saw Leigh put on the pressure and with 52 minutes gone and  three consecutive penalties within the red zone finally cracked the tiring Mayfield defence when on the last play No 13 Lee Rowley smashed his way over the whitewash. No6 Ryan Peters conversion attempt skidded a couple of feet wide 14 -18

On 60 minutes a good series of passing ended with Gavin Hunter slipping in under the post to level the score at 18 – 18 added to by Peters to take Leigh into the lead 20 – 18

Leigh were visibly lifted and on 65 minutes again put some superb passes together with No7 Ryan Smith finding No 5 Mark Kay who then put No4 Carl Redford over to make it 24 – 18 with Peters unable to add the two points from out wide.

From the kick off Leigh could/should have scored again when Andy Groves hared off down the left wing and only an ankle tap from No6 John Foy brought him down.

70 minutes saw a disputed rip given by the touchie on the far side and from the penalty the ball was passed left to right across the meadow through several pairs of hands for No1 Ryan Fieldhouse to score a well taken try. Peters slipped the conversion over to make it 30 – 18.

The re-introduction of powerhouse Carl Mort paid dividends for Leigh with 73 minutes gone when he ran over several weary Mayfield defenders handing on to Ryan Smith to again go in under the sticks and with Peters again adding the two stretched Leigh’s lead to 36 – 18.

Mayfield didn’t give up and with 77 minutes gone and on the last play of the set Jonny Marsland put a kick up into the Leigh in goal area and with Andy Read soaring like bull elephant scattering Leigh players left and right just couldn’t hold the ball to see it bounce dead.

The last word however went to East’s when in the 79^th minute Ryan Fieldhouse jinked his way past the Mayfield defence which had given their all and was obviously spent with their efforts. From out wide Peters missed leaving the final score at 40 – 18.

The score really doesn’t reflect the effort of the Mayfield lads who really took it to Leigh East and probably the lack of match time was a big factor in the defeat. For almost ¾ of the game Mayfield were in it and could have taken the points had they been more match fit? However Leigh East stuck to their task and came out worthy winners.

Mayfield’s M.o.t.M was Todd O’Brien

Leigh East M.o.t.M was Ryan Fieldhouse

Mayfield:

1 Komah Nauamatua, 2 Rob Kershaw, 3 Steve Wood, 4 Jamie Knight, 5 Andrew Taylor, 6 John Foy, 7 Jonny Marsland, 8 Ben Coombes, 9 Todd O’Brien, 10 Aiden Gleeson, 11 Ryan Douglas, 12 Simon Moore, 13 KcKenna Gibson, 14 Paul Brierley, 15 Adam Colclough, 16 Adam Eyres, 17 Andy Reid

Leigh East:

1 Ryan Fieldhouse, 2 Andy Groves, 21 Danny Kilshaw , 4 Carl Redford, 5 Mark Kay, 6 Ryan Peters, 7 Ryan Smith, 8 Simon Stevens, 9 Adrian Dootson, 10 Craig Wingfield, 11 Brett Longstaff, 17 Carl Mort, 13 Lee Rowley, 14 Gavin Hudder, 15 Mak Starkie, 18 Semisi Cocka, 20 Lee Hansen