By David Wilkinson
There has been a lot of rugby played since Sandbach visited Priory Park for the 4th game of the season. Even though Sandbach sneaked it that afternoon, it was the start of much better things to come for Macclesfield. During the past couple of days the boys will have reviewed Matt Coleridge’s video analysis of the previous game and the preparation for Saturday’s; identifying opportunities and turning them into practise will be very meaningful for them this week, particularly after the success of doing precisely that at Lymm, last time out. They will also have realised in watching the video, that the game they are now playing is far more precise than that of 5 months ago; no doubt Sanbach has also developed its game.
The Macc lads will want to replicate everything that was good last week, if they can continue that momentum, and high intensity, we should be in for another cracker. The Sandbach win at Blackburn was as notable as that of Macc’s at Lymm; Blackburn had not lost at home for the past three years, so will not have given up that record easily – “chapeau” Sandbach. Ex Macc try-scorer Myles Hall crossed the whitewash twice for Bach last week, and, if he’s playing, Mylo will want to show off his squirming, strong running again, to his old mates on Saturday. As this is a rearranged fixture both teams are missing players, although the Macclesfield squad looks as strong as last week. Head Coach, Ben Wade, was taking nothing for granted, after last week’s win: “It’s a completely different challenge, we need to put right the things that we got wrong last week, or we will pay for it. We certainly need to play the full 80 minutes again, we didn’t early in the season, and Sandbach punished us, finishing off the game with their better experience. It will be a different contest to last week, and the boys know that, they have trained hard for it. It’s another big derby game, away from home, but the boys are really up for it, and we are all excited about the challenge”.
It is the long-suffering Mrs W’s birthday on Saturday, so I will be watching via Twitter from afar, unlike the rest of you, as you take the very short trip to Sandbach, to cheer the team on. In other weekend news, there is a double header at Priory Park on Saturday against Vale of Lune; the Ladies kick-off first, followed by the 2nds; elsewhere Haydn Keogh plays for North of England U18s again, this time against the Midlands. If you are travelling to Sandbach on Saturday, and please do your support makes a real difference, particularly when the game is there for the winning in the last 5 minutes, the ground is situated on Bradwell Road, kick off is 2.15pm. The team is: 1. Dan Percival, 2. Brendan Berry, 3. James Cross, 4. Harry Harding, 5. Rhys Davies, 6. Seb Pemberton, 7. Phil Laing, 8. James Oliver, 9. Danny Martin, 10. Charlie Attis, 11. Sam Adu, 12. Terence Babarinsa, 13. Harry Oliver (Captain), 14. Sam Broster, 15. Tom Jennings, 16. Tom Burden, 17. Tom Leicester, 18. Elliot Alston.
