Win over rivals gives Mansfield promotion

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t glamourous and it wasn’t graceful but it was a fantastic game full of tension, doggedness and industry. It could have gone either way but the home team managed to dig deep, especially in the final minutes, and find the resolve to claim victory.

Casuals’ game didn’t start off in the way they’d hoped, the very first kick-off failing to travel the required 10 metres. This gave the home team the first opportunity to display their dominance at the scrum, which kept the visitors on the back foot for most of the game.

This early platform was taken eagerly and the blue-and-whites put together successive phases of play, manoeuvring their way up field to allow Rio Turner to open the scoring. A tricky conversion was missed but Mansfield were up 5-nil after just 5 minutes.

While the home team dominated much of the opening exchanges, only one further score would be added to the points tally during the first half. A successful shot at goal by Taryn Elms right before half time saw the blue-and-whites go into the break just 8-0 ahead.

The game was a scrappy affair with balls fumbled, turnovers won and penalties given away but this was mostly due to the incessant and sustained pressure both teas found themselves under.

Mansfield had the dominance in the scrum but were unable to turn over too much of Casual’s ball and struggled to use the lineout to its full potential, choosing to throw long and then being unable to gather and control the ball.

The home team controlled most of the possession and territory in this period of the game but, aside from the aforementioned points, didn’t really look like scoring.

As the half time whistle blew and the score at only 8-0, the game was still completely open and winnable for both teams.

The second half was a mirror opposite of the first as Casuals maintained most of the possession and territory and ran Mansfield ragged. Aside from a controlled opening 10 minutes, the home team lost their attacking edge and were largely playing defence.

A number of penalties during the early stages of the half saw the blue-and-whites choosing to take quick taps rather than taking the points on offer.

This relentless pounding on the opposition’s defensive door saw the otherwise sturdy visiting defence finally buckle, the referee brandishing a yellow card for illegally bringing down a Mansfield driving maul.

The resulting 5 metre penalty saw Anthony Symcox take a quick tap, barrel a defender out of the way and add his name to the score sheet.

A successful conversion by Elms saw the home team take another step to victory, 15-0.

The rest of the game largely belonged to Causals as they rained down attack after attack.

Sometimes they were direct and carried the ball through the forwards, other times they put the passes through the backs and tried to create gaps in midfield.

One thing they didn’t do initially was exploit the overlaps. There was more than one occasion where an overlap was created but was either ignored or missed, meaning an attacking opportunity was snuffed out.

Casuals did, however, still create a number of opportunities. Three times they just failed to cross the whitewash before actually registering their tries. It was only a Mansfield defence on absolute top form that managed to keep them out. The first of these near-misses was held up over the line, the other two were fumbled in contact as the blue-and-white’s defensive portcullis was shut tight.

These were just warm up attempts, however, as the final 10 minutes saw the visitors score 2 tries and pull themselves right back in to the game. The first came after repeated phases of pressure. The home team were stretched too far and space opened up on the wing for the visitors to score in the corner. A tricky conversion was missed so at 15-5 with just minutes left, the score and time was still in Mansfield’s favour.

That was until the kick off, which Casuals caught and ran straight back into the heart of the home defence, this time scything through, offloading well and immediately adding another. This time the conversion was slotted and, at 15-12 and with less time on the clock, the momentum was largely against the home team.

A third attempt on the blue-and-whites line ultimately faltered and with it came the end of the game. The first half was largely dominated by the home team, though they did struggle to trouble the opponent’s line despite having the lion’s share of possession. The second half was largely played defensively while Casuals took every opportunity to attack. Mansfield’s defence was outstanding in this half and really showed a maturity, particularly when needing to scramble or reset ruck after ruck. This maturity is impressive considering there were 5 players from last season’s colts all in the matchday squad: Nathan Hinds, Josh Housley, Henry Haskell, Jack Stewart and Rio Turner. While doing nothing for the nerves or fingernails of either set of supporters, it was a game full of ambition, industry and intensity, quite the game to end the season!

This win now places Mansfield in an un assailable 2nd place in Midlands 2 East (North) ensuring promotion along with Boston next season. The cup season now awaits!