By David Wilkinson
After quite a lay-off, Macclesfield’s boys in blue were on the road again, and it would be a first visit to 8th in the table, Old Redcliffians in Bristol. The game started with the hosts in possession, they went through the phases, getting to the 22; but a knock-on led to a penalty for Macc at the scrum, and the pressure was relieved to halfway. Macc won a good ball at the lineout, but it was knocked on in the attack, and the Bristolians were back in Macc’s half. Two penalties got the Reds close and a big driving maul and some aggressive rucking got them over for the first score, on 9 minutes, 5 – 0.
It took little time for Macc to respond; a short restart from Tom Farrell, put Billy Birkett in the air, where he was tackled by a Reds forward, the Referee had no hesitation to show him a yellow card. The penalty put Macc on 5-metres, where their catch-and-drive was strong and clinical, to even the scores.
Again Redcliffians pressed deep into Macclesfield territory, going through the phases. A rolling maul in the red-zone was looking ominous but some excellent play by Andrew Darlington brought it to a halt. However, Macc were now without the power of Harry Harding, also sitting it out for 10 minutes; they were overpowered at the resulting scrum, setting up the hosts to attack again. They attacked right to left from the lineout, and eventually found a soft-shoulder, and the space to get around the defender to score, 10 – 5, after 22 minutes.
Quick ruck ball sets up an attack
The tit-for-tat was even quicker than Macc’s first try. A scrum to the visitors from the restart had a good shove-on before the ball was released to Harry Oliver, taking an inside line. He brushed aside the first two would-be tacklers, with his pace beating the rest, and he took all the 7- points, 10 – 12.
Macc kept the pressure on with a penalty getting them deep into the 22, but the ball was stolen at the lineout. A late shove/tackle gave the Reds relief to their 40-metre line. At a following scrum Macc pushed their hosts back, but they managed to get the ball away to their sizeable 13, who brushed away the Macc tacklers before showing impressive speed to out-flank the defence, for a 17 – 12 scoreline.
Macc were back on the attack, and after some clever passing it looked like Jamie Harrison was through, but he lost his footing. Another devastating scrum from Macclesfield gave Harry Oliver the opportunity to narrow the gap, 17 – 15 at half-time.
Macc taking clean ball at the lineout
The second half started with Macc pressing deep into the Bristolian’s half with some crisp attacking play. When the hosts did get their hands on the ball the pressure from Macclesfield was unrelenting, they forced the Reds back until they eventually got possession back. Redcliffians were now on the rack, they lost two players to yellow cards, and were hanging on. A scrum on 5-metres set Macc up, they went two quick phases to the left before Mason Winterburn spotted his Captain on the blindside; James Oliver made no mistake using his strength to crash over, 17 – 20.
Macc kept the pressure on, and a deft kick from Winterburn forced the Reds to play from deep, a couple of sideways phases were played until a speculative chip put the ball over Macc’s defensive line. It was a good chip-kick, that got even better when it hit the ground, as it bounced backwards, into the hands of a Reds athletic forward, running at full speed. It was laid on a plate, his pace took him past the last line of defence to dot down between the posts, 24 – 20.
Possession changed hands a few times until Old Redcliffians went through several phases around halfway, but they couldn’t find a chink in Macc’s defence. A dabbed grubber kick got behind the first line of defence, but Macc’s Right Wing, Bill Birkett, got to the ball first on the ground, but a Red’s forward dived on top of him, without letting him play the ball. The result was the ball squirted out for a Redcliffians’ player to pick it up and score. 29 – 20.
A well timed lift and jump from Harry Hughes
Old Reds attempted to clear from the restart, but it was charged down, putting Macc in a good position to attack. They used it well, going through the phases, making ground with every carry, and when they got close, Harry Harding powered over the line to get the score close to the posts, 29 – 27.
Macc knocked the ball on at the restart, and Redcliffians surged forward, with some of their best play of the game; they did get the ball over the line but Jamie Harrison had gotten undeath the player. Macclesfield were now relentless in their search for the away win, and at times the hosts were hanging-on, but hang on they did. Macc won a penalty on 45 metres, and they chose to go for goal, it was a big kick for anyone. Will Davies, now at 10, lined it up, and hit it sweetly between the posts, but it fell just short. Old Reds cleared, and try as they might, Macclesfield did not get close again.
It had been a highly competitive game, other than in the set scrum, where Macclesfield had total dominance, but not always the reward for that dominance. Old Redcliffians had been fortunate with two of their tries, the latter, in my opinion, had involved foul play; what was heard on the Referee’s mic was: “He just lost control of it” (the ball). But the opposition player dived on top of him, forcing him to lose control, which should have been penalised – at least that’s how I saw it.
The boys and the Coaches will be pleased with the performance, but it was 5 points missed, rather than 2 points gained. Next week we see Luctonians at Priory Park, they thumped Macclesfield at Mortimer Park earlier in the season, but there’s been a lot of water gone under the bridge since then. It should be a cracking contest, and the first home game for 6 weeks, expect a big crowd, 3.00 pm kick-off.
