By David Wilkinson
A few years had passed since the club travelled to Herefordshire to take on Luctonians. The Alikadoos took their wives along to enjoy the Club’s famous sell-out lunch, and stay over for the night. Given the score-line, the roast beef lunch would have been the highlight of the trip.
Luctonians cleared from the kick-off but Macclesfield fluffed the lineout, which was gathered by Lucs at the tail. They used the ball well and after a couple of phases in the middle of Mortimer Park, their playmaker gave a delightful chip over Macc’s defensive line, the Macc forwards were easily turned by Lucs backs, with the ball popping up nicely. Billy Birkett did get across to tackle the ball carrier, but he had three players on his shoulder in support; it was a clinical 7-pointer.
It takes two to try and halt another attack
Macc would have another lineout following the restart, Lucs challenged and Macc fumbled, they did quickly however win the next lineout on 30 metres but a long clearance went straight into touch putting the home-side on the attack again. A few strong carries pressured Macc and they gave away a simple 3-pointer in the 22.
It was a challenging day upfront
Eventually Macc got the ball and put a few phases together, but they looked jittery against Lucs blitz defence. Macc won a penalty on 25 metres in front of the posts, but opted to go for the corner, which went dead. They were back on the attack from the 22, but it was far from slick, with each play being telegraphed; but they persisted, running a ball back from deep, it looked slicker until the offload to Sam Adu was telegraphed, a hack down the field, almost resulting in a gifted try. Play exchanged hands until the home team won a penalty in the middle of the pitch, attacking from the lineout on 30 metres; what followed was clinical rugby, committing tacklers to hit hard, but when the ball came left to the middle of the park on the 22, hitting hard was sadly lacking, or so it seemed. The Lucs 4 crashed between his opposite numbers to go over, it was so unlike Macc in defence, 17 – 0.
After the restart Macc got some of the play until a penalty put them back in their 22. The execution from the lineout was clinical as Lucs brought their big mobile second row onto the ball at speed, he burst through the tackle close to the line for another 7-pointer, 24 – 0. Macc were again on the attack after the restart, attacking deep into the hosts half, but a neck-role at the ruck, would finish the half, Macc were down to 14.
Luctonians moved the ball well all afternoon
Luctonians started the second half as they finished the first; a ball over the top at the lineout found their big Second Row on the charge again, he ate up the ground before bringing other forwards into play. The hosts showed just why they are at the top of the table as they powered through the tackles to go over again, 31 – 0.
It was more of the same from Lucs, but Macc held out winning a penalty to get relief to halfway. Luctonians guessed right at the lineout, out jumping Macc. The ball came off the top into the hands of the 9, who set off on a hi-speed swerving run to the line, unselfishly passing to a support player on the outside, 38 – 0.
Mason Winterburn chases down his opposite number
When you’re having a bad day at the office, opposition teams have a self-belief that they can run the ball in from anywhere and any situation; resulting in a quick penalty by the big second row and he was eating up the ground. When the ball came out Lucs had breached Macc’s defensive line and had a simple run-in, 45 – 0.
The boys in blue had far from given up and were giving their all to get on the score-sheet, but Luctonians’ defensive structure was very difficult to crack, Macc got to within 10 metres but then lost the ball on the ground. After winning a penalty at the scrum, they eventually worked their way back into Luctonians territory, and kept the ball, phase after phase, battering the line, and finally were rewarded, 45 – 5.
Penalties were exchanged with Macc in potentially a good attacking position, but touch wasn’t found, and in the blink of an eye after a very long kick the rampant hosts were back in Macc’s red zone. There they stayed, scraping their way to the line with a twisting wriggle out of a tackle on the line for another 7-pointer.
Ollie Longmore lines up another tackle
Luctonians were now in full control, Macc were struggling after a very hard day at the office, leaking another two scores in the final 5 minutes. It had been a salutary lesson for the boys in blue, if you are not completely on your ‘A’ game at this level you will get found out, in every position on the field.
These were Head Coach Rhys Davies’s thoughts: “It was a tough trip down to Herefordshire to play against a strong Luctonians side who will be challenging at the top of the league.
There were some harsh lessons learned about the accuracy we need to pay with, to be successful. The nice thing about rugby is that we get an opportunity to bounce back a week later”.
Sam Adu in his first game back at Macc moves in on the tackle
The Coaches will have a fuller deck of cards to deal with next week, with players coming back, and hopefully a new exciting name on the team-sheet, from one of our own! Look out in the week for more information, as we gear up for the arrival of Cinderford at Priory Park.
