The Blues set the tone in the opening minutes stretching the visitors defence which could have led to an early try, but this was thwarted and they had to settle for a Joe Daniel penalty.

However mistakes straight from the kick off led to an equalising kick before further pressure from the Blues saw Ryan Conyard jink his way through for a try, which Daniel converted.

Then on 20 minutes the scores were level when a counter attack by the home side was halted with an interception pass which saw the Mansfield centre score wide out despite a determined effort by Daniel to prevent the score. A fine conversion brought the visitors level at 10-10.

Within 3 minutes the Blues were again 7 points clear as Tom Bridgeman burst through from the 22 to score. Daniel again converted.

As half-time approached Daniel kicked a penalty and straight from the kick off a great handling move saw the ball moved left and with precision passing and timing the visitors were left clutching at fresh air as Joe Newman broke clear for a high quality score, again converted by Daniel to give the Blues a 27-10 lead at the break.

Within 2 minutes of the re-start, Daniel extended the lead with a penalty, before Mansfield fought back with a 10 minute purple patch, which saw them score a converted try on 46 minutes and then a penalty on 49, to close the gap to 10 points.

At this stage it looked as though the visitors were on the way back, but on 60 minutes skipper, Chris Chapman, broke from a scrum and fed Newman who crashed through the defence from outside the 22 and crossed near the posts, making Daniels 4th successful conversion a simple one.

This proved to be the final score as both sides struggled to gain the upper hand in the last quarter, although the Blues will clearly be satisfied with a 4 try, bonus point win.

RAJ Man of the Match: Jordan Butlin