Mansfield women continue success with powerful win over Kesteven
Mansfield RUFC’s women’s team have enjoyed a very successful couple of years.
And that seems like it will continue unabated as a strong, powerful performance saw them emerge victorious in what became a dominant performance and 53-22 win against a hugely impressive Kesteven side on Sunday.
With two debutants not only performing well but adding to the scores, this season continues to be a net positive for the Blue-and-Whites.
Proud head coach Dave Woodcock said: “We won the second half 31-0, we were playing with confidence and it’s really inspiring to see how well the new players are finding their feet.”
The first half ended with both teams tied 22-22 on the scoreboard.
This was a fair reflection of the half as the teams traded territory, possession and scores.
Kesteven got themselves on the scoreboard first with a well worked try that showed their pace and ability to break tackles.
However, after a shaky opening, things began to settle down in a bruising game Mansfield were able to rack up their points through debutant Summer Hartshorn, Emily Bingley and Marie-Anne Battersby plus two conversions and a penalty by Laina Corah.
The second half saw Mansfield really up the ante and dominate.
Kesteven, to their credit, were still a total thorn in the side, disrupting whatever and whenever they could and putting in some wonderful covering tackles.
But the tries came thick and fast and each one was well earned.
Cat Chambers continued to be a positive influence to the younger players, constantly finding ways to exploit the space, ultimately finding her way over the line.
Hartshorn cemented her excellent debut with a second as she collected a missed pass.
Battersby continued to be a nuisance in the best way possible, constantly finding ways to break through an otherwise solid defence on her way to adding two more to her tally for a hat-trick.
Hannah Brereton, not content with just being a distributor in midfield, managed to place herself at the end of an offload and surge her way to the line for the final try of the game.
Fellow debutant Hannah Parkinson capped off an assured performance by adding three conversions, a couple more really tricky conversions from out wide coming agonisingly close.
With England’s Red Roses lifting the World Cup, more eyes than ever are on women and girls’ rugby, so Mansfield were delighted to welcome World Cup winner Amy Cockayne to Eakring Road.