Youngsters beat Judes bully boys
IT was a very young Mayfield side that made the trip to Wigan on Saturday against a side who have only lost one league game for almost a year.
The home side were a massive outfit who really fancied their chances against the visitors.
Mayfield had other ideas though and try as the home side did, they refused to be bullied and stood up to the experienced forwards and in fact bettered them in every department.
Judes pressed the Mayfield line for the first ten minutes but the young bucks held firm, rocking them back as they formed a solid defensive wall.
Joe Schofield, Jimmy Connaughton and Tom Fitz were particularly busy on their own line.
Building on the defence, Nick Hargreaves and Jack Rush forced their way up field and Rob Kershaw did well to score in the corner after a great ball from John Foy, Marsland converted for 0-6.
Judes upped the pressure but the Mayfield defence matched them, absorbing everything that was thrown at them. A loose Judes ball was seized upon by Corey Newsham and he proved to be unstoppable as he sprinted fully 60 metres to score in the opposite corner, Marsland again converted, 0-12.
Cameron Connolly was directing play and the forwards were responding well to his prompting.
The longer the game went on the more telling Mayfield’s superiority and they finished the half strongly with Luke Hartley unlucky on a couple of occasions not to add to the score after some brilliantly timed breaks.
The second half saw Judes trying everything they could to get off the mark but again Hargreaves, Rush, Connaughton and Schofield held firm and refused to let them through.
The home side’s frustration boiled over on more than one occasion but the young Mayfield Lions refused to be bullied and, led by the immense Connaughton and the introduction of Connor Fitton, they galvanised their efforts and again took control.
After a sustained spell of pressure on the Judes line with no points to show, Marsland opted for a one pointer, which seemed to energise the side even more and they totally outclassed their opponents from then to the final whistle, as the last thirty minutes turned into the Connor Fitton show.
Fitton himself scored after great work from Hargreaves, he then put Connaughton over under the sticks with a perfectly timed pass.
Marsland added both conversions plus a penalty for a swinging arm to make the game safe at 0-27.
With minutes to go Kershaw showed he still has a bit of rugby left in him as he finished off a set piece from the base of the scrum. Again Marsland added the two to round off the scoring making the final score 0-33.
The home side were totally shocked and breathed a sigh of relief as the final whistle sounded knowing they had been soundly beaten by the better side on the day.
The MOM was a split decision with James Connaughton just being edged out by Connor Fitton, whose live wire second half put paid to any thoughts Judes had of getting back into the game. Other sound performers were Jack Rush, Nick Hargreaves, Luke Hartley and Joe Schofield.
There was also some bright moments from Jordan Parr and Lewis Butterworth. All in all this was a superb day for the team and the coaching staff and bodes well for the season ahead.