Under 8′s

Fixtures

Sunday 19th Feb: West Park (Away)

Update: West Park have a small playing squad and no reserve pitches, so we can’t take our full squad. 14 players have been selected for the West Park fixture, the remaining squad members will be training at Macc. Please check your e-mail for the selection and contact Paul to confirm availability in case we need to swap selections around. Thanks.

Directions are here (click on the map for Google directions). Warm ups start at 10:15, allow just over an hour travel time.

NB: West Park have some artificial pitches, so please make sure players have boots and trainers as we could be playing on those or (muddy) grass given the numbers we may be taking.

Next fixtures:

26th Feb vs Wilmslow (A)

4th March vs Chester (H)

11th March vs Bowden (H)

Note: The Whitchurch match on March 24th is now AWAY and not home as per the fixture list in the Mini-section pdf.

Reports

Match Report : Sandbach on 22nd Jan

In their first competitive outing since early December, Macc produced 4 wins and 2 draws in 6 games against a quality, well organised Sandbach side who were very competitive in all the matches played and were unlucky not to take more from the encounter. Despite the biting cold wind and very damp pitches, both clubs produced some good running rugby with not too many dropped balls – not easy with freezing hands.

On one pitch, the two teams couldn’t be more evenly match and wouldn’t be separated with a 7-7 then a 10-10 draw. In the first of these, Macc were behind 3-1 midway through a first half in which their long layoff showed as they produced a lot of mistakes. Slowly they got back into the swing of things and although never getting into a lead, at the end of a much improved second period a try from Tom equalized the scores. The second match on the same pitch was a mirror image, this time Macc starting strongly and leading 5-2 and 6-3 in the first half before Sandbach came back to level things out at 10-10 on the final whistle. Top scorers in these encounters were Aaron with 4 , Billy and Ben with 3 each and Ellis, Tom and Harry all crossing the line twice.

Over on the second pitch, Macc edged two very close games 9-6 and 6-5. Highlights for Macc in these games were top class performances from Christopher and Will H with 5 tries each, and Jamie, continuing his progress this season, with 3 tries. On the third pitch Macc managed another two more hard fought wins, 8-3 and 7-5. Great contributions came from Sam Heathcote with 4 tries in his best and most determined performance since joing the U8s and Charlie Oakes with 3 tries. Charlie Sudweeks, James and Ian also bagged 2 tries each.

Player of the week was Ellis for some great support play and defence.

Results/scorers (Macc score first):

7-7 Scorers: Ellis, Aaron (2), Billy, Ben (2), Tom

10-10 Scorers: Harry (2), Ben, Billy (2), Oliver, Aaron (2), Ellis, Tom

9-6 Scorers: Tommy, Christopher (4), Jamie, Ted, Will H (2)

6-5 Scorers: Will H (3), Jamie (2), Christopher

8-3 Scorers: James, Karl, Ian, Charlie O, Jed, Sam H (2), Charlie S

7-5 Scorers: Ian, Charlie S, Sam H (2), Charlie (2), James

Match Report : Caldy on 11th Dec

A fantastic effort from the Macc U8s parents got 20 players out to Caldy, driving through some horrible conditions up the M56 and M53. Well done to all.

Despite driving through heavy rain and floods all the way up to the ground, some magical drainage and improving overhead conditions at the Caldy sports grounds meant there was no threat of cancelled matches. 4 games were played across 2 pitches, Caldy taking the honours 3-1 with some notable help from several Macc players on loan including Ian and Oliver who both scored tries and played exceedingly well in opposition colours.

Highlight performance of the week in Macclesfield Blue was a fantastic return of 8 tries from Yazmin, obviously inspired by last week’s Player Of The Week trophy, including all 5 of Macc’s tries in the last game of the day. Other scorers on the day were Christopher and Ben with 4 each, Billy and Tom both with 3 and Will G with 2. Oliver made partial ammends for his touchdowns for Caldy with one for Macc ! Play of the day was Tom’s last try: Ben stepped into a gap and made a break before being tagged when he fired out a long pass to Tom who, having run a fantatstic support line while staying in space, took the ball at pace and sped over the try line giving the defenders no chance of stopping him. This is the style of play the coaches are aiming for from the U8s in the New Year.

Player of the week went to Jamie for direct runs and good support, building on last weeks good performance.

Results/scorers (Macc score first):

8-10 Scorers: Tom (2), Christopher (3), Billy, Ben (2)…..plus Oliver with 2 for Caldy

7-3 Scorers: Ben (2), Billy (2), Tom, Oliver, Christopher

5-14 Scorers: Yazmin (3), Will G (2)….plus Ian with 2 for Caldy

5-9 Scorers: Yazmin (5)

Match Report : Manchester 4th Dec

The coldest conditions of the season so far (at least it didn’t rain/snow) and the muddiest pitches so far didn’t prevent both clubs producing some good rugby. Manchester were the only team this age group met at U7s level who convincingly beat them across a full set of matches, so Macc knew they’d be in for one of the strongest tests of the season.

Despite a couple of the six matches on the day producing one-way traffic for Manchester, Macc’s challenge was much stronger as a whole than the same time last season. Highlights included a recovery against Manchester’s top team from 4-2 down just after half-time to a tense 5-5 draw with Tom and Ben grabbing two tries each, Christopher also crossing the line. In Macc’s 6-3 win, Aaron scored Macc’s try of the day with a blistering, weaving solo run from a restart and Harry produced amazing defence, a couple of times taking 3 or 4 of the 7 tags required for Macc to turnover the ball by himself. Other scorers were Ben (2), Tom, Oliver and Christopher.

In other matches there were good performances from Jack with 3 tries while Charlie, Jamie, Ted and Jed also bagged 2 each. There was some great straight running and passing from Jamie, Tommy and Will G in particular and encouraging signs from all the players that the type of play we’re trying to develop in training is starting to come through in matches. Given there’s chance to build on this with some training sessions either side of the Christmas break, the U8s look in good shape for the second half of the season and the various Festivals in April.

Player of the week went to Yazmin for some fabulous defence and fearsome tagging.

Results/scorers (Macc score first):

5-5 Scorers: Tom (2), Ben,(2) Christopher

6-6 Scorers: Tommy, Charlie (2), Jamie (2), Sam M

6-3 Scorers: Ben (2), Oliver, Tom, Aaron, Christopher

5-7 Scorers: James, Ted, Jack, Jed, Eddie

4-12 Scorers: Jack (2) Jed, Ted

0-9 Scorers: All Manchester !

Match Report : West Park on 27th November

Back at home after a few weeks on the road, Macc U8s played 3 matches against a spirited and hard working 7 from West Park in some traditionally cold late November conditions. Full credit to West Park’s players for their performance and stamina playing against Macc’s 3 teams on the day, being competitive in all the games. Highlights this week for the home side were Christopher, James, Billy and Harry each scoring a hat-trick in their respective matches, 2 tries and some brilliant tagging from Ted which saw the opposition sign him up at half time and a good all round performance from player of the week Sam, who was also one of the Macc players transferred on a loan deal to West Park for part of the day.

Match results and scorers (Macc score first):

8-8 Tries: Christopher(3), James (3) Tom (2)

7-4, Tries: Billy (3), Ted (2), Aaron, Yazmin

4-2, Tries: Harry (3), Ben

Match Report : Alty Kersal on 20th November

Macclesfield travelled to Alty Kersal on a misty but dry day : looking for the space on a rugby pitch is a skill, so parking at Alty’s ground must be excellent training !

Both teams produced some fantastic attacking rugby with great running and offloads with 81 tries scored across 6 entertaining matches. The two teams were more or less perfectly matched, games finishing at 3 each and just a single try separating the match totals at 41-40.

Highlights of the day for Macc included Aaron scoring 4 tries in a match twice, Oliver also getting 4 in a match and a hat-trick for Will H. James crossed the line 4 times on the day and Archie Anderson, awarded the player of the week, scored 3 very well taken tries and made a number of other good strong runs. Among the most encouraging matches of the day was the last one with the team putting into practice some of the skills worked on in the warm up session: great straight running from restarts (notably from Tommy, Ethan, Jed and Archie A) which sucked in the defenders, then really good, composed passes into space allowing Ben standing off in support to run riot with 9 tries in the single match.

Match results and scorers (Macc score first):

3-6 Tries: James (2), Christopher

4-6, Tries: Charlie, Tommy, Ian, Archie A.

6-4, Tries: Aaron (4), Harry, Ben

10-6, Tries: Aaron (4), Oliver (4), Ellis, Ben

6-11, Tries: Will H (3), Yazmin, James (2)

12-7, Tries: Jed, Ben (9), Archie A (2)

News

Macclesfield U8s are co-winners of the Shield at the Manchester Festival 2011

On a very soggy day at Manchester RUFC the U8s drew 7-7 with Chester in the Shield final, collecting the trophy and their medals from England internationals Andy Sheridan and Hendre Fourie. In a great team effort on the day, top performances came from Billy and Ben with 8 tries each.