Neither side was able to settle into their rhythm in the first half of this match. Despite tries for Paul Lorenzen and Billy Saundry, with a Mark Quinn conversion, the teams were locked at 10-10 at the break.

The bigger and more experienced Mayfield team began to tire in the second period and Leyland’s expansive game capitalised on this. With Man of the Match Tom Worrall’s probing runs from dummy half, the Warriors were on the front foot, and Ollie Austin and Liam Betney took the game to the Rochdale forwards.

This dominance gave Leyland room to work on the edges, leading to tries down the right for Will Roper and David Palin, with a touchline conversion from Scott Low. The Warriors didn’t have it all their own way as an unforced error led to a try for the visitors.

This proved to be mere consolation as Leyland continued to push hard and a break by Andy Robinson resulted in Lorenzen adding a second, before Saundry hit a great line at pace to complete his double. Quinn converted both tries to complete the scoring in a patient victory for the Warriors.

Team: Andy Robinson, Will Roper, David Palin, Paul Lorenzen, Danny Horridge, Mark Quinn, Scott Low, Ryan Sumner, Tom Worrall, Ollie Austin, Peter Heatley, Billy Saundry, Dan Armstrong, Jonny Tuson, Liam Betney, David Kirby, Andy Cooper.