By David Wilkinson
Macclesfield will make the long journey to Devon with optimism after their win against the energetic Exeter University Students last time out. However, Devenport Services must be targeting the visit of Macclesfield as a home win. The previous match-up at Priory Park was a hard-fought contest, Macclesfield’s line was breached five times by the Devonians; that said, the Boys in Blue are a different kettle of fish in the second half of the season.
Charlie Attis made a sizable contribution to the second-half performance last week, and on Saturday, he will want to show his old club what they are missing. Several years ago, he scored a hat trick in his final game for Devenport Services – they will not forget it.
Although the words would unlikely be said between Coaches and the squad, Saturday’s contest will have been marked down as ‘must win’. Devenport Services position in the league suggests that they have found the transition to Nat 2 West even harder than Macclesfield, but they are still very capable of scoring tries; Macclesfield will have to be more prolific than usual to take the points.
The team for Saturday is: 1. Theo Hulbert, 2.Ollie Longmore, 3. Andrew Darlington, 4.Ben Blackburn, 5.Harry Harding, 6. Harry Hughes, 7. Phil Laing, 8. James Oliver (Captain), 9.Danny Martin, 10. Charlie Attis, 11.Jamie Harrison, 12. Harry Oliver, 13. Sam Adu, 14. Tom Jennings, 15. Billy Birkett, 16. Ted Broadley, 17. Dan Percival, 18. George Boughey, 19. Dom Hanson, 20. Tom Farrell.
