Rugby league: Mayfield beat Leigh Miners to go through to the fourth round of the Challenge Cup for the first time

Mayfield completed an historic victory over Leigh Miners on Saturday 11 March to get themselves in the draw for the fourth round of the Challenge Cup for the first time in the club's history.

The team and the coaches looked very relaxed and confident during the warm up considering the massive task in front of them. Leigh Miners are a great club with a great history in the Challenge Cup and they were at home so any confidence Mayfield showed was at least mirrored by them.

Mayfield showed their intentions right from kick off with a solid set finishing with a kick and chase, showing they were there to compete. It only took four minutes for Mayfield to open the scoring after good work from Sam Wright who took the ball out wide, Jarrod Dash punched a hole in the defence and Penkywicz put Lewis Butterworth through to get his side on the scoreboard, Devlin Long just missed with the conversion attempt, 0 - 4.

Within a minute Mayfield had increased their lead and Penky again showed his class as he broke through the tackle and found Seta Talatoka with a great pass. The mighty Fijian made it look easy as he powered through to make it 0 - 8 and Dev Long knocked over the conversion, 0 - 10.

Mayfield took their foot of the gas then when they should have just stuck to the game plan. They were guilty of throwing the ball about where they shouldn't and generally easing off the pressure. Miners seized their opportunity after one of these passes went to ground, Youds picked up the ball and went straight for the line, Mayfield couldn't hold him and he scored by the sticks, Drake added the two, 6 - 10.

Miners put Mayfield under pressure from the restart but good interplay between Aussie duo Tolhurst and Dash eased them away from the danger zone. Mayfield should really have sealed the game within the next ten minutes but some outstanding defending from Miners kept them at bay, as first Nick Hargreaves, then Long were held up over the line.

With half an hour on the clock Mayfield were in control with Wright and Devlin Long at the reins. Wright took advantage of a flat footed line with an outrageous step and dummy to break free and get the next try, again the conversion was missed, 6 - 14.

Hargreaves was again having a great game and causing problems all over the pitch for the Miners defence, he broke 30 metres up the field then produced a superb offload to put his side in the danger zone again, Devlin Long reacted well, keeping the momentum and jinked his way through the still shell-shocked defence, converting his own try, 6 - 20. A great time to score with only two minutes until half time.

The break upset Mayfield's rhythm and the Miners sensed a way back into the game as they attacked a scrappy Rochdale line, and substitute Grimes, with fresh legs managed to break through for an important try for his side, 10 - 20.

The next score was going to be all important as Miners were playing some good rugby now and showing some of the class they are renowned for. It was here where Penkywicz showed his experience as he calmed his side down and steered them back to the game plan. The reintroduction of Dec Sheridan killed off any Miners fightback as he tore them to shreds with some electrifying darts from acting half and brought the forwards onto the ball and back into control. Travis Long and Lewis Butterworth combined well to create the space for Harry Sheridan to exploit and he didn't disappoint as he raced away to touch down under the sticks, Dev Long converted 10 - 26.

 

 

This proved to be an important try and took the wind out of Miners' sails as much as it lifted Mayfield. Butterworth's side were now back in control and playing some really good rugby. They'd had their blip, got through it and had come back on top, surely the mark of a good side. The forwards were now taking the game to the Miners and they just couldn't handle them, Dash, Trav Long, Talatoka and Hargreaves were awesome taking drive after drive and sickening the Leigh side in the tackle. Sam Wright again stepped his markers and raced away for his second score, converted by Dev Long, 10 - 32.

Then Harry Sheridan took a good pass from brother Dec after strong play from McVeigh and coasted in for his second. Converted by Dev Long to complete the scoring 10 - 38.

This was a comprehensive Mayfield performance and victory, not without mistakes but the team is getting better with each outing and the crowd are loving it.

There were good performances from Callum Ogden who is getting better with each game as his fitness returns, Harry and Dec Sheridan, and the Long brothers. The coaches' man of the match award went to Dakota Tolhurst but he was pushed close by Sam Wright.

Mayfield chairman Neil Ramsden was over the moon with the result and thanked the fans from Rochdale who travelled for this clash. He said: "Our crowd were absolutely fantastic, they blew me away. They must have had a positive impact on the side, wherever they looked there were the blue and white Mayfield fans, they were amazing."

This was a big day for the Rochdale side and they are waiting now, fingers crossed for a good draw on Wednesday evening. There are some big teams in the hat now with names like, Halifax Panthers, Widnes Vikings, Bradford Bulls and London Broncos and Rochdale Mayfield as well as the only other community club still in the competition, Hunslet ARLFC. "All we want is a home draw," said chairman Ramsden. "It's out of our hands now so we'll just sit and wait for the draw to be made with fingers crossed. Anyone at home is the cry here at Mayfield."