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Mansfield vets Tour Up Norf!!

 Mansfield Vet's Victorious

Guisborough 10 Mansfield 13

One of the more bizarre events of local rugby activity this weekend was Mansfield Rugby Club’s annual Vet’s tour to North Yorkshire. This was a thrilling encounter for rugby purists who like to see their game played fast and hard despite the condition of the pitch, which resembled a paddy field in places. The game was also noted for bringing about a career reprise for one or two long forgotten local rugby heroes.

Hairlines may well be receding at the same rate as waste lines are expanding, but make no mistake this game brought out the best in the fighting spirit of some of those old gladiators. It was a privilege and a joy to watch as raw bone met raw bone in many thunderous tackles with all talk of neoprene body armour being discarded and dismissed as ‘vests for softies’ only to be worn by girls. Therefore, the game was played the old fashioned way with all players merely wearing a rugby shirt for protection.

Mansfield started well, but soon found themselves under immense pressure from a well drilled home pack of forwards, which contained an England U23 No8 and four county players, three of whom formed the front row. However, despite their obvious talent, impressive handling skills and superior fitness, this was not to be their day as they were turned over time and again by outstanding work from the evergreen Keith Calladine, a man who doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘quit’ however, there are also a lot of other words he doesn’t know the meaning of too!

County standard or not, the home side’s front row did not expect such a ferocious onslaught from the old firm of Parr, Whale and Davies who with total disregard for their own safety repeatedly hit rucks and mauls scattering bodies like ten pins. With frustration building in the home side who were unable to secure their own ball, Martin Saunders was repeatedly called upon to mediate diplomatically in situations that could have got out of hand. The referee clearly appreciated his efforts and sought regular meetings with him for advice throughout the game.

Disaster struck midway through the first half, when half backs Shaw and Troman combined with majestic style akin to Dawson and Wilkinson of England to outfox the defence close to their line only to see the ball spilled feeding back inside to the supporting Repton, hampered by a broken hand one eye shut. Guisborough’s speedy winger, who only 3 days earlier was timed at 10.4 in a local 100m charity race, collected the ball and set off for the try line. Despite the best efforts of rangy second row forward Grummett who sprinted after him and was closing him down with every stride, the winger made it to the corner and the try was awarded. Sadly, only two minutes later, a very dubious call by the match official at a lineout close the visitors line led to another try and Mansfield went into the break 10 nil down.

Head Coach Harris gathered his men around him and delivered a speech that would have had the ‘Greatest Briton of them all’ Winston Churchill conceding defeat in the oratory stakes. It was hard to fight back the tears of emotion as we witnessed him working his team, motivating them into a frenzy, for what was a staggering second half performance.

Speculation amongst the crowd was that Ralf Leeson had managed to implant some kind of homing device into the ball at the break, as his restart drop kicks were a wonder to behold, a model of unerring accuracy. From this a sweeping move from the visitors try line saw the ball pass through several pairs of hands as back and forwards combined with the grace of a Swan, the speed and agility of a Gazelle and the power of a Grizzly Bear. It was down to Lenehan, Hughes and Toon to lay on the final passage of play, which saw Mayfield score with a ‘Fijian style’ dive into the corner. A broken bone in his foot hindered the conversion attempt from Troman who dismissed it as a minor irritant but narrowly skimmed the upright to see the score 10-5. It was here that we witnessed two things that will surely go down in rugby folklore.

In an attempt to finally put the home side away, Nick ‘Sting’ Mitchell was brought on by Harris along with Dave ‘the boot’ Place, neither of whom had strapped on a pair of boots in anger for many a long year. Mitchell got straight into the action by wrestling the ball from a maul and setting off up field out sprinting the home side’s 10.4 man. After going to ground, Cartwright secured the ball and took play on another 10 metres passing to Irving who in knocking over the county prop layed off the ball to John McDonald who took a ghastly wack in the eye for his trouble before Place gathered the ball up, but found himself with his back to the posts. It was here that only those who witnessed what happened next would remember it forever. With no time to turn around Place simply back healed the ball over the post for a staggering reverse dropped goal off his wrong leg! Now it was 10 points to 8 to the home side.

With only three minutes remaining Harris played his masterstroke. No one had heard of Richard Walters north of Shirebrook before this game, but he took to the field with all the enthusiasm of a puppy with a new squeaky toy. Being unsure of the laws of the game, he was passed the ball and refused to let go! As it turned out this was to be a defining factor as he blundered his way up field like a flailing Octopus swatting would be tacklers like flies and ignoring cries of “pass it”. He made it to the corner stamping all over Place ‘the Boot’, who had only gone to support. As he crashed over the line to score he leapt to his feet and then directed an unsavoury victory salute to Harris, who had actually forgotten he was on the touchline for most of the game waiting to come on. The prostrate Place was unfortunately unable to take the conversion having suffered multiple injuries in supporting Walters and despite the best efforts of Lenehan, who would have been better trying to convert a bean bag, the game ended with Mansfield 13 points to 10 for the home side.

Chairman, Andy Foster described this as one of the most emotional rugby experiences he had ever witnessed and praised the coaches and players for providing a real spectacle for him and the other supporters who had travelled with the team to North Yorkshire for a weekend of spiritual relaxation, inward reflection and enlightenment. It was during a period of meditation late on Saturday evening that he exclaimed about the game, “it was perfect, really beautiful and it all seemed like a dream”

From: fatty

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06/06/2008 11:04

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