Mansfield Women 7–47 Sheffield

With the Eakring Road turf left absolute sodden after the deluge of Saturday afternoon, looking perhaps quite favourable to any wayward ducks needing a new hangout spot, there were concerns that this game would be dictated more by the conditions than the teams.

However, the home of Mansfield rugby has a very thirsty pitch and by the 2pm kick off time the pools of water had been eagerly consumed, leaving a somewhat heavy but very playable surface. This was a top-of-the-table clash, Sheffield being responsible for Mansfield’s only loss of the season so far.

As a contest, it was fast and fierce and both teams put absolutely everything they had into it. Unfortunately for the home team, a loose first 10 minutes saw them concede early tries. This saw them struggle to really regain their footing in the match and, combined with some inopportune penalties, made it a deficit just too big to claw back.

Sheffield built on their early scores and ended up claiming victory. Head coach Dave Woodcock was disappointed, but knows how hard that contest was: “I thought we held them out well at times, there was a half an hour period where we kept them away from the tryline so I’m happy with that.”

Sheffield started the brighter of the two teams, really pushing through the middle and making Mansfield work hard in defence. Work hard they did and they never stopped. Despite what the scoreline would suggest, this was a fierce contest as both teams were intent on stopping any promising forays.

The home team held the middle of the pitch well but struggled to contain the width when the visitors spread it out wide. This would lead to Sheffield’s aforementioned early scores, three tries scored, two converted, within the first 10 minutes. 19-0 down against such a well-structured side was going to be a big gap to close.

However, Mansfield were relentlessly dogged throughout the remainder of the first half, they had dominance for the majority of the game in the scrum, pushing Sheffield off their own ball and making it difficult. However, for all this dominance, not a single penalty came their way. In fact, discipline became Mansfield’s downfall, numerous pushes into their opposition’s 22 area all ended with conceding penalties.

Whilst they spent a large portion of the half knocking at the door, they couldn’t find a way to get on the referee’s good side and those penalties frustratingly nullified those promising attacks. These attacks were exemplified by Marie-Anne Battersby, whose tenacious efforts saw her make numerous gainline breaks and helped her pick up the joint player of the match award Ultimately, the half ended with Sheffield finally breaching the home team’s defensive barrier and adding a fourth try, converted, to reach half-time 26-0 in front.

The second half was much like the first. Again, Mansfield were relentless. They turned over ball, they tackled like the opposition owed them money, the scrum continued to grind away and there was ambition and adventure in midfield. Unfortunately, this didn’t look like the Mansfield of games past and there were a few cracks beginning to appear.

Half breaks were swept up well by the opposition, rucks were slowed down and when promising opportunities presented themselves, quick ball wasn’t quite quick enough. Credit must also go to Sheffield who defended exceptionally well and pulled Mansfield to and fro across the park in order to add another three tries, all impressively converted, to take their overall tally to 47. They’ll be disappointed they didn’t reach the half century but that is credit to Mansfield’s defensive efforts.

The blue-and-whites did get themselves on the scoreboard right at the death with a quite wonderful try. A chip through the visitor’s defence was cleaned up well but the unyielding harassment by the supporting runners saw Sheffield driven backwards and turned over inside their own 22. A few phases of quick ball later and Emily Bingley crashed through three defenders to dive over the tryline, helping her secure the joint player of the match award with Battersby. A successful conversion by Laina Corah saw the final score read 47-7.

By their own admission, this was not Mansfield’s best performance and the score perhaps doesn’t reflect the sheer effort they exerted. However, Sheffield are not top of the league for nothing and where Mansfield just struggled execute that final blow, the visitors were able to do it. Still, this was a quick paced and ferocious contest that had pretty much everything you would want from a top of the table clash.