Mayfield 24 – 6 Shaw Cross

Callum Marriott being stopped by three defenders

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Mayfield beat Shaw Cross at the Mayfield Sports Centre on Saturday.

In driving rain and with a strong swirling wind, this was never going to be a classic.

The visitors came out strongly, playing rugby which belied their mid table position.

Repeated errors from Mayfield gave Shaw Cross repeat sets on the Mayfield line and only strong defence from Ben Butterworth and Callum Marriott stopped them from taking the lead.

The first ten minutes of the game were played exclusively in the Mayfield 20 metre zone with Shaw Cross scrum half and stand off causing endless problems.

It took Mayfield 20 minutes before they exerted their superiority on the game, the introduction of Aidan Gleeson from the subs bench seemed to be the catalyst.

Gleeson was unlucky as he took a ball from O'Brien and was stopped short of the line, from the play the ball O'Brien then fed Paul Brearley who dropped Matt Calland off on the inside creating the gap for Calland to stroll through for the opening try. 

Mayfield produced some magnificent rugby in the conditions as Gleeson again broke the tackle, fed Seta Tala who in turn managed to find Rob Kershaw in support, he was tackled just short of the line.

Joe Qanuici stormed onto a pass and scattered the defence as he doubled Mayfield's lead.

It looked as though the Mayfield scoring machine had clicked into gear but some dogged defence from the visitors held them at bay and that was the end of the scoring for the first half.

The rain continued and the pitch and the ball were both slippy with knock ons and lost possession dogging both sides.

From the restart Mayfield drove upfield with Tala and Brearley charging through the line and Qanuici again proving unstoppable as he crashed over for his second, converted by Butterworth.

Brearley picked the ball up at the scrum on ten metres and jinked his way through the defence for a great individual try.

A scrappy spell followed with both sides struggling to control the ball and both sides failing although through no fault of their own.

O'Brien put Calland in for his second try converted by Butterworth.

Shaw Cross could have been forgiven if they had sat back and took the defeat but to their credit they didn't do so and, in fact, they managed to get on the score sheet as their elusive no 6 managed to evade half the Mayfield side to grab his side's only try.

Excellent performances from Mayfield with Tala, Brearley and Luke Sampson showing up well and Callum Marriott putting in one of his best shows of the season but the man-of-the-match award was split between Qanuici and O'Brien, both of who worked tirelessly throughout.

Mayfield Team: Seta Tala, Komai Nualamatua, Ryan Bradbury, Matt Calland, Rob Kershaw, Paul Brearley, Sam Butterworth, Matty Moores, Todd O'Brien, Joe Qanuici, Callum Marriott, Liam Whalley, Ben Butterworth, Aidan Gleeson, Jack Sampson, Luke Sampson, Niall Bradley.