By David Wilkinson
It’s another first for Macclesfield, as they travel south to Bristol to take on Clifton. It may be less than halfway to Camborne but it’s still a bit of a jaunt for the Northern boys-in-blue. That said, they are now getting used to every other game being either an early start or an over-nighter! Clifton had an easy game of it last week, against Devenport Services, or so the score would suggest, whilst Macclesfield were in a dogged affair against Cinderford, with some close penalty calls giving the visitors the four points. Macclesfield crossed the line more times; scoring three tries to two, and they were bitterly disappointed only to get one-point out of the match.
These were Head Coach, Rhys Davies’s thoughts after training this evening: “The boys are very up-beat after an excellent session tonight. Naturally, we were disappointed with last week, it was a game to be won, but the crucial calls didn’t go our way. The forwards are as is, from last week although Elliot Thompson won’t be travelling due to a minor illness. Ollie Davies is out after his ankle tweak, there’s no break, so we now wait on the results of a scan today. Elliot Alston and Ollie Church rejoin the squad, and Dan Leake is also injured”
By all accounts Clifton is a team that likes an open game, which shouldn’t worry the boys too much, particularly as the Macc pack can perform well in open space as well as in the set piece. What has become evident is the difference at this level in so many areas; the detail of refereeing being very noticeable with their assistants playing a big role, and the quality and speed of opposition defences has caught us out, so far. Our opponents are doing to us, what we did to our opponents last season. None of this will have gone unnoticed by the boys, which will be a week-on-week WIP for them. The Bristolians sit two places above Macc, with one more win, but it won’t count for much on Saturday; it’s a game the Macc have points pencilled-in for.
If you’re travelling down to Clifton, to support the boys, there will be room on the coach, subject to demand. The game will kick-off at 2.30 pm, the squad is: 1.Christian Hone 2.Ollie Longmore 3. Andrew Darlington 4.BenBlackburn 5.Harry Harding 6.George Boughey 7 Harry Hughes 8.James Oliver 9.Danny Martin 10. Harry Blackwell 11.Jamie Harrison 12. Harry Oliver 13.Billy Birkett 14.Tom Jennings 15.Sam Adu 16.Dan Percival 17.Theo Hulbert 18.Elliot Alston 19.Ollie Church 20.Mason Winterburn.
