Mansfield 14 Nottingham Casuals 18

Saturday 12th September 2015
Midlands 2 East North

Mansfield 14 Nottingham Casuals 18

Casuals pip Mansfield at the death, creating a bit of history.

This was the first ever meeting in the league, Mansfield dropping from Midlands 1 after relegation the previous season.
Previous games had nearly always seen Casuals at the wrong end of some hefty scores, so the game was going to be something of a test, especially with so many new faces in the side, and many of the team never having played against Mansfield in any competition.
The mood was upbeat in the changing room, the players pumped up at the prospect, and it was evident on the pitch.

Mansfield opened the scoring after 7 minutes. A quickly taken penalty, wasn’t defended by Casuals, and the hosts went over for a converted try, which rocked Casuals briefly, and things looked a bit ominous.
Undaunted, Casuals went downfield,and they had an opportunity to peg back the lead with a penalty kick, which unfortunately proved to be too far out.
However they kept the pressure on and made their way back into Mansfield’s half following a booming kick from Gareth Davies-Jones. Mansfield conceded another penalty, and then advantage was played following a high tackle. Casuals then took a scrum, and Davies-Jones went over for the try.

Casuals came back on the attack, and forced Mansfield into a bit of panic, conceding a lineout. Casuals backs then showed their handling ability, and despite some poor timed offloads, still kept play alive. Casuals by now were playing with a lot of spirit.
Mansfield conceded yet another penalty, and Mark Higgins kicked Casuals into a one point lead.

The pressure was telling on Mansfield as they conceded more penalties, eventually leading to a yellow card.
Taking advantage of the numbers , Casuals were able to string some good moves together,although they were let down by some badly timed passes. Eventually the pressure told, and Simon Roberts went in to record a rare try for him, and Casuals lead Mansfield by 6 points, the conversion attempt bouncing off the posts.
Casuals continued to dominate until 1/2 time with some panic setting into Mansfield’s ranks.

The second half Casuals continued to compete and both sides came close to getting over, but defence and handling errors contributed to no further scores for some time.
Casuals got their best chance when Mansfield’s full back panicked and inexplicably took the ball back over his own line and touched down, leading to a 5 metre scrum.
Casuals had further goal kicking opportunities, with Davies-Jones coming closest from near 1/2 way.
An incident near Casuals line nearly cost Casuals dearly, when the referee took no action for an attempted haymaker, instead of a penalty to Casuals he awarded the scrum to the hosts. Casuals managed to disrupt Mansfield’s put in, and relieved the pressure.
Mansfield got themselves back into the game, and they came downfield, Casuals giving away some penalties, and things looked ominous when Tom Lightfoot was yellow carded for a high tackle. Ironic that it was deemed a carding offence, when others had gone unpunished.
Mansfield turned the screw and when they were awarded a scrum, they went in for a converted try, getting a one point lead with minutes left on the clock.

Casuals then fired up again and despite missing a sitter of a penalty kick, they still kept Mansfield on the defensive.

Casuals won a lineout, and the ball went down the line to full back Ben Hallam, who cut through the first line of defenders, and flicked the ball up as he was brought down, to Alex Walkden, who jinked past the remaining defenders to dot down for the try, regaining the lead for Casuals.
Casuals then just had to keep possession for 2 minutes, and the forwards duly obliged, camping on Mansfield’s 22 long enough to see the game out.

Next week another test for Casuals, when the visitors to Canalside are Market Bosworth. Hopefully Casuals will be able exact some revenge for last season, and on the evidence of Saturday, they should be able to record a victory to entertain the guests attending the pre-match lunch