Solihull 15 Mansfield 3

SOLIHULL return to league action at the Portway on Saturday on the back of a comfortable EDF Energy Intermediate Cup victory.

Solihull had plenty of good possession early on, pressurising the visitors into early mistakes, however a Mansfield counter-attack from turnover ball, produced the first points of the game as a penalty in front of the posts was converted to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.

This was the only time Mansfield threatened in a first half dominated by the powerful Solihull pack, with debutant Ben Blackwall, and John Mannion controlling the set plays.

On 12 minutes Solihull worked their first score, with a powerful driving maul being taken right to the line, before quick ball released winger Dino Markou to dive over from short range for an unconverted try in the corner.

Straight from the resumption Solihull took the ball back to their visitors, with the heavy Mansfield pack struggling to legally defend their line.

Eventually the referee lost patience with the visitors' tactics, sending their second row to the sin bin for 10 minutes.

Solihull worked hard to made their numerical advantage tell but mistakes at key moments too often let them down.

On 30 minutes however Mansfield infringed again when a score was certain and the referee had no hesitation in awarding the penalty try, converted by Jim Quantrill leaving the score 12-3 at half-time.

Mansfield came out for the second half with renewed vigour, consistently retaining possession however they were rarely able to break through some determined first line home defence.

The back row in particular was in excellent form, with Simon Petit again regularly disrupting the opposition flow.

The only score of the second half was a penalty for Solihull by Quantrill after turnover ball in centre field was killed by the visiting defence.

On Saturday Solihull resume their league campaign, entertaining bottom of the league Stafford at Portway (ko 2.30pm).