Cougars 48, Rochdale Mayfield 2

A good run out for the Cougars saw them score nine tries and defend superbly.

The game could have been much higher scoring, but for a few late, loose passes that came as the Cougars cut loose. But in the end the scoreline looked just about right, giving some credit to a Mayfield side who never gave in.

In fact they kept going to the bitter end and impresssive centre Joe Graziano was going better than most, and all but came up with a consolation effort for his side.

But this was the Cougars' day. They defended well, scrambling at times at others just containing a much bigger Mayfield pack. On attack they looked good without really having to hit top gear, errors really only coming about as they cut loose and had a tendency to get over elaborate.

There were some lovely touches though, none better than David Larder's pass out of the tackle and Jason Laurence's well timed run to get the first try in the 4th minute.

Jason Ramshaw was a real scourge all afternoon. He grabbed a hat-trick, could have had another two, was pivotal in three of his sides six tries and looked a clear cut man of the match. He pounced on Christian Tyrer's grubber kick for the second, both were converted by Nathan Antonik.

If there was a weak spot in the Cougar first half performance it was their indiscipline, they conceded eight penalties before the break, one from Steve Campbell when in possession, led to Mayfield's only points, a 30 metre John O'Donovan penalty in the 18th minute.

The amateurs then fell foul of indiscipline themselves, losing second row Paul Higginson to a late high tackle on Jason Lee, which looked clumsy rather than malicious, nevertheless bad enough to warrant dismissal. It got worse. From the free kick the hugely impressive Matt Foster raced to the corner for his sides third try.

Rather than completely over awe Mayfield it seemed to inspire them, and they looked to have scored when skipper Lee Durrant dived over on the half hour, great defending turning him as he crossed. Craig Diggle then put in a mazy run, before the Cougars picked up their intensity to run in two quick tries before the break to effectively take the game out of reach.

Ramshaw had a try disallowed as he chased another kick, this time from Martin Wood, but soon made up for it.

He was sharp at acting half all afternoon, and from one such run turned to find Antonik on his shoulder, and the Aussie raced in.

Just before the break Ramshaw was obstructed on the line, took a quick tap to dive over and with Antonik adding both conversions the half time score was 28-2.

The second half started sweetly enough for the Cougars. Good crossfield passing saw Pat Rich dive over out wide then Ramshaw collected his own chip kick, aided by Antonik, to complete his hat trick.

Again the Cougars were guilty of letting their intensity slip, and the errors crept back into their game. Mayfield had one or two good breaks before Lee added the eigth try, taking a neat drop off from Laurence. He looked to have grabbed a second soon after but was tackled into touch as he dived over.

With eight minutes left Ramshaw and Paul Owen combined with two neat inside passes to send Chris Robinson racing over, Antonik's 6th goal completing the scoring.

Foster showed great flashes of form, Wood, Larder and Mark Campbell looked a tight back three you hardly noticed the absence of Andrew Schick, a late withdrawal with a slight knee problem. Nathan Antonik looked a lot sharper, and Pat Rich looked to be learning the centre position quite nicely.

Generally then a useful run out, full of promise for the real season ahead, which starts on Sunday with the visit of Garry Schofield's Doncaster Dragons.

Cougars: Foster; Longo, Rich (Hall 66), Laurence, Lee; Tyrer (Owen58), Antonik; Hall (Smith 60), Ramshaw, S Campbell (Smits 44), M Campbell, Larder, Wood (Robinson 64).

Rochdale Mayfield: Hatley; donovan, Graziano, C Diggle, tighe; Reeves, Burke; Cockaine (Molloy 65), Hamer, Ahsworth, Higginson, Hills, Durant.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.