Mansfield Ladies hold in-form Mellish to a draw

After spending a few weeks being battered by storms and general bad weather, Eakring Road saw some early spring sunshine as a backdrop between Mansfield who had lost their last two games and Mellish who had won their last two, meaning both sides had a vested interest in coming away with the points.

Both sides were evenly-matched for large parts of the game but it was the visitors who were able to break through the Mansfield defence to open the scoring with a try under the posts, converted for a 7-0 lead.

It didn’t take Mansfield long to get themselves back in the game, eventually seeing Emily Bingley being driven over the line to register their first score, Hannah Blake converting for a 7-7 half-time scoreline.

The second half saw Mansfield start positively and this pressure was kept up, and a deft kick through, while cleaned up expertly, was chased well and resulted in a home scrum near to the opponent’s line.

The scrum had largely been quite neutral, a battle of two powerful packs, which meant that quick ball was essential, especially as the visitors’ scrum half was sniping around the edges like a hungry lion.

This time, quick ball was employed and Car Chambers gladly took the opportunity to exploit some space and put the home team into the lead for the first time. A difficult conversion was missed but the score read 12-7 to the Blue-and-Whites.

Unfortunately, a lengthy injury break meant that momentum was lost but with the visitors in possession, they were able to regain their composure the quickest. As Mellish had possession before the enforced break, they had possession at the scrum as the game restarted.

The ball was quickly delivered through the hands and the home team couldn’t scramble across to cover the numbers as the try line was crossed and the scores evened up.

The conversion to win the game was missed, always a difficult task from the angle it was taken at, but at 12-12 the score was probably a fair reflection of the game up to that point and was a good result for both teams.

Mansfield’s next home game is on Sunday, April 3.