Table-topping Mansfield given tough afternoon by gutsy Grimsby

With only a handful of games left this season and a dominating performance last week, this was a real opportunity for Mansfield to solidify their place at the top of the table and finish what would surely be seen as the best season of the last few years.

While the Blue-and-Whites did take the victory, it was not the smoothest of performances.

Some of that was down to key players missing from the squad, but more credit has to be given to Grimsby, who disrupted at every opportunity.

What transpired over the next 80 minutes did nothing for the nerves of either set of fans but was an absolute stormer for any neutral fan.

Head coach Wayne Robinson was feeling all the emotions after the game, saying: “We did some things very well, I thought our defence was outstanding and our scrum worked well but we have some things to work on.”

After racking up a big scoreline last week, it seemed like all the jigsaw pieces were in place for the home team to put in another co-ordinated performance.

However, Grimsby had other ideas and threw numerous spanners into Mansfield’s inner workings. Throughout the first half, Grimsby pressed and pushed and harried their way up the field, bullying the home team on their own turf.

They were the sharper team and clearly had only one aim - to splinter and shiver the defence any way they could.

This largely involved punishing phases of play, recycling the ball and going again.

This resulted in them getting the first score of the game, a 5m penalty was tapped and their pack found a way through to the line. The conversion was successful and the visitors were 7-0 up.

That try was not the visitors’ first attempt though, the home defence was rock solid for most of the afternoon.

They scrambled well when they needed to, they disrupted on the floor and they held up a potential scoring opportunity to show great strength and resilience.

While this was a definite high spot in the game, there were other areas that lacked the same savvy. Grimsby’s second try came from a Mansfield penalty.

A misfiring lineout saw the ball coughed up and regathered by the opposition.

A few phases later saw Grimsby win their own penalty, take the chance when it presented itself and add a second to their tally. A missed conversion took the lead to 12-0.

At this point in the game, the visitors looked sharper while the home team were struggling to find their feet.

This would be the pattern for much of the rest of the game. Grimsby were determined to break through the defence as often as possible.

While their big pack were happy to keep the ball in hand, the decision not to exploit swathes of space that were often left unattended behind the defensive line perhaps cost them the opportunity for more tries.

The Blue-and-Whites' defence was impressively solid throughout, with some bone-crunching tackles making the sideline wince and with quick ball provided from the breadown by matchday sponsor The Ladies of Mansfield Rugby Club’s player of the match, Lewis Cowlishaw.

That said, the home team were also unable to exploit the numerous overlaps that were created by a narrow visiting defence.

Mansfield's first try came after finally being able to thread together some phases of play using a penalty as the platform to do so.

Nathan Hind, growing in stature every week, found his way through the opposition defence to get Mansfield on the board. A successful kick by Harry Brough saw the gap closed, 12-7.

The second half was much the same as the first. Grimsby opened the scoring with an impressive try, dancing round numerous defenders to increase their lead to 19-7, the conversion slotted successfully over the posts.

This left the home team quite the task if they wanted to take even a bonus point away.

The errors of the first half were equally present in the second leading to a frustrating number of close calls.

Grimsby still elected to go the direct route, again leaving open space unharmed.

The two remaining tries of the game came from Mansfield.

The first saw Rio Turner add another characteristically flash try to his overall tally with a lightning run to round the defence and get under the posts. Brough added the extras to close the gap to 19-14.

A converted try then saw Mansfield steal the lead, and it was something they dedicated the remainder of the game to getting, regardless of how they had to do it.

A lineout saw Mansfield take the opportunity to repeatedly knock on the defensive door with a powerful maul.

Eventually, the door had to splinter and Grimsby bought the pack down illegally.

The referee duly awarded a penalty try and, as is the law these days, a yellow card.

As a penalty try is now an automatic seven points, it pushed the Blue-and-Whites into the lead for the first time, 21-19.

While this was the final score, it wasn't the last piece of action.

Both teams had territory and opportunity to add to their tallies but either through solid defence or forced errors, neither team were able to convert it to points.

While the home team will be disappointed they didn’t manage to secure a fourth try bonus point, they can be proud of taking the victory in a game that didn’t always go as planned.

This Saturday Mansfield host Belper, you can follow the action on Twitter @Mansfieldrugby​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​