Mansfield start the new season with victory over Boston

The first game of a new season is always a tricky one to gauge.

With new players, new combinations and new tactics it’s always difficult to read too much into the first game of a season.

While there were still some cobwebs to be blown away, Mansfield put together a solid performance against a determined Boston side.

As openers go, this one was even throughout as both teams traded scores and were never more than a try away from each other.

In the end, Mansfield had enough resolve to close out the game as victors.

Head coach Wayne Robinson was happy with the final result, saying: “We’ve got a couple of new boys in the squad so it’s a good result and stands us in good stead going forward.”

The home team started the brighter of the two, registering the first score of the season after just a handful of minutes, the bronzed figure of Danny Spencer taking the ball over the line.

A tricky conversion was missed but the home team had set out an early marker and were in the lead.

Boston’s reply was swift with them taking advantage of a dominant scrum to break through the home defence to cross the line and register their first score of the season. Their conversion was successful and they took the lead.

It would be unfair to say that Boston thought they only had to turn up to claim victory but, at times, it seemed they had no plan B.

While a game plan was clearly in place, Mansfield were able to disrupt it and the visitors didn’t seem to know how to react.

On Mansfield’s end, some speculative passes showed that they had the confidence to throw the ball around but just lacked the decision making nous to really make those passes count.

However, this was the first game of a new season so it’s credit to both teams that they were willing to try things, even if they didn’t always come off.

The parity between the two teams was exemplified by the remainder of the first half.

The half time score was 14-10 to the home team, all the resulting scores coming from a regular back-and-forth of penalty kicks at goal, Mansfield’s were kicked with confidence by Taran Elms.

Both teams struggled to gain any momentum after racking up numerous penalties.

Just before half-time, the clear frustration boiled over and both teams had a player sent to the sin bin.

The second half played much like the first. Boston’s scrum was still in the ascendency but was contained well by Mansfield.

Both teams tried to link phases together but either lacked precision with their passing or gave away a penalty.

Another trade of penalties saw the score read 17-13 to the home team, just barely keeping their noses in front.

The pack were grinding up front to turn over ball and the backs were trying to create space and find gaps, with matchday sponsors the Lenehan family’s dual players of the match Taran Elms and Lewis Cowlishaw doing their best to poke holes in the visitors' defence.

The first try of the second half came from the visitors, a quick tap catching the home defence napping.

The conversion was missed but the home team were behind again at 18-17.

Another battle of stalemate saw another penalty each, the score reading 23-20 to the visitors with time running out on the clock.

A difficult penalty to tie the game was missed and it seemed like Boston would take the spoils.

However, it was actually a poor decision from the home team that lead to the match-winning try.

A chip kick to nowhere went dead and resulted in a goal line drop out instead of the old 22 drop out, a new law introduced within the last couple of years.

Mansfield collected the ball and managed to weave their way through the oncoming defence, with Ellis Fletcher using the left wing to his advantage and scoring in the corner.

Another difficult kick was missed but the game ended shortly after, Mansfield emerging victorious at 25-23.

Boston will take a deserved losing bonus point for their efforts and Mansfield may rue the rustiness that perhaps saw them not claim a try bonus point but as first games of the season go, this was a very positive start.

This weekend Mansfield travel to East Retford. You can follow the action on Twitter @mansfieldrugby.