Mansfield pay the price for ill discipline as they suffer first defeat to Nottingham Moderns

The home team was sitting at the head of the table with seven wins from seven; the visitors were four points below with six wins from seven, so this was always going to be a tight game.

But the Blue-and-Whites had home advantage and the momentum from a stellar run of form.

With a half-time lead, it did seem like the pieces were still falling into place.

Unfortunately, numerous cards and a slew of discipline issues saw the home team’s run of form come to a halt in a second half many will want to forget

The early exchanges saw Mansfield continue to build on previous weeks’ efforts, with some slick passing and fierce running seeing Moderns struggle to find their feet.

The ball was presented quickly in the rucks and was being nicely put through the hands, ultimately finding a returning John-Ross Ward and allowing him to scamper through to the try line.

A difficult kick was missed but the gauntlet had been laid down, 5-0 to the hosts.

The set piece has been much improved for the home team this season and Saturday showed perhaps the most impressive use of it yet. The scrum was an absolute powerhouse and decimated the visitors’ own.

The visitors could count themselves lucky not to be down to 14 men permanently early on, a late shoulder deemed only a yellow as emotions threatened to boil over.

This lack of discipline would see both teams then receive a yellow card, meaning the visitors were reduced to 13. Unfortunately for the Blue-and-Whites, ferocious defence would see that 13-man period yield no points.

A penalty from the visitors was their only reward in the first half.

A relentless catch and drive from a lineout saw Phil Pogmore steer his way to the line and increase the home team’s lead. A successful conversion from Ward saw the score at 12-3 as half-time rapidly approached.

That, sadly, would not be where the half ended. A red card for a high tackle with mere seconds of the first half remaining meant Mansfield’s already tough battle had just become a mountain.

Still, the home team were in the lead and had got the confidence from seven previous wins.

However, ill-discipline would ultimately hamper the home team’s attempts to mitigate being a man down.

Two yellow cards within the second half saw them play 20 minutes with 13 men, a monumental ask that proved just too much to overcome.

A succession of penalties didn’t help as the Blue-and-Whites continually got on the wrong side of the referee.

For all the advantage they had in the second half, Moderns really struggled to take a hold on the game.

An early try saw them close the gap to 12-10 but it wouldn’t be until Mansfield went down to 13 men (for the first time) that the visitors were really able to stifle the opposition. Two tries in this period, one converted and one not, saw them reach their final tally of 22 points.

The second period of playing against 13 men saw them add nothing to their tally despite having the lion’s share of possession.

A final try for Turner, scored in exuberant fashion after some stellar running from Zane Chiappetta, saw the home team get into bonus point territory, a sliver of silver in an otherwise cloudy game.​​​​​​​

On Saturday Mansfield travel to Ashfield. You can follow the action on Twitter @Mansfieldrugby