The Blues suffered their fourth home defeat of the season and still remain win-less, but this Saturday’s performance was by far the most impressive of the season.
Macclesfield played host to fourth placed Coventry, and most will have been shocked when The Blues went into half time having dominated proceedings. Despite eventually ending in a loss and coming away empty handed, Head Coach Giles Heagerty could take plenty from the performance.
“We certainly deserved a losing bonus point after the game, if not more. We played some outstanding rugby today. The front row and whole pack gave us a real platform to play off. We’ve shown today that with a platform we can really rip into sides, but we need to stick in the game for the full 80 minutes. This performance gives us a huge platform to now kick on for the rest of the season.”
Heagerty handed debut’s to three players this weekend. Marshall Gadd, a prop on loan from Rotheram, Sam James a centre from Sale, and Sam Marland a full back from the Cornish Pirates. Giles spoke of the influence these players can have on the squad as a whole.
“Marshall Gadd was immense but it’s not just the work he has done on the field but the work he has done off it, it’s really helped the boys. He gave our front row a bit of confidence. I’ve told the other players that this doesn’t mean that they can have a bit of time off. You’ve got to lift yourself to their level and that’s exactly what happened today. You can see from the reaction at the end of the game how gutted they were.”
The Blues travel to Blackheath this weekend looking to build on a very strong performance.