By David Wilkinson
The game was preceded by The Lion’s Lunch, as part of the Club’s 150th celebrations. Dewi Morris, Steve Smith and Fran Cotton spoke of their times as Lions, as we look forward to the tour to Australia. The previous encounter against the Students had been a close affair, this one was no different.
Playing against the breeze, Macclesfield regained possession from the kick-off, going through 12 phases, but the Students’ defence was sold, and no territorial advantage was gained. The visitors briefly got their hands on the ball, under pressure, but their clearing kick was run back with aggression. Captain James Oliver broke a tackle in his inimitable style, and there was no one at home in defence to stop him cantering in for the score, leaving Harry with a straightforward conversion and a 7-point lead in less than 5 minutes.
Captain James Oliver breaks the line for the first score
It was all Macclesfield following the restart; the Boys in Blue twice forced Loughborough to infringe, which took them to within 10 metres. The lineout was well executed as was the following drive, with Harry Hughes going over, and Oliver taking the extras, 14 – 0 after 11 minutes.
Macc get their second
It took little time for the Students to respond. After kicking deep, they regained possession, and when the ball came out to the Inside Centre, there didn’t seem to be a threat from his slow-motion dummy, but it did leave a gap for him to trundle forward with his Scrum Half finishing, 14 – 7 after 13 minutes.
The Students ran it back from the restart, but Macc’s defence was solid, turning the ball over and clearing into the visitors’ half. The throw-in was not straight with a scrum to Macclesfield. The Boys in Blue had already shown their dominance in the set-piece, and this time they had the Students back-pedalling at a jog, the Referee’s arm went up, but it was Macclesfield’s Tight Head that was penalised for driving in, a very strange call given the circumstances. The penalty created an attacking lineout. The ball was whipped down the backline, and a delicate chip over the defence created the score, all square after 19 minutes.
Possession exchanged hands several times around the middle of the pitch for the following 10 minutes, until a session of aerial ping-pong pushed the Students back into their 22. The Visitor’s Fly Half spotted space deep on the right, his kick was pitched perfectly from his own 22, bouncing towards the corner. A foot race ensued, and it was the Students Right Wing that just got his hand on the ball before it trickled over the dead-ball line, 14 – 19 after 30 minutes.
The evergreen Phil Laing was aways a threat
Loughborough won a succession of penalties and used the wind well to set up camp in the left corner. Macc’s defence was vigilant twice, preventing scores. Eventually, the Boys in Blue escaped with a penalty of their own. At the lineout, a short ball to the front was won after the usual switching of players forwards and backwards. The Referee was unhappy with the construction of it, penalising Macclesfield. For the second time, a technical offence at the set piece would turn out to be costly. The Students attacked well off the lineout, two phases in the midfield got their big forwards into the red zone where some neat handling got them over the line near the posts, 14 – 26 at half-time.
Macclesfield soaked up the initial pressure at the start of the second forty until they won a penalty to put them within 40 metres. They were very patient in their build-up, going through multiple phases as they crept up the field. The passing was crisp and accurate, varying the point of attack. When they got into the strike zone, the offloads kicked in, and it worked. A fastball to Jamie Harrison was flipped at the tackle to find Jack Ellam, who crashed over. Harry Oliver got the extras again, 21 – 26.
Jack Ellam bags Macc’s third try
Macc now firmly had the bit between their teeth; they made 10 metres with every carry, twice Harry Oliver broke the line, taking it very close, until the ball went into touch. But the Referee brought play back for a previous high tackle against the Students. Macc ran the ball from the lineout, left, then back right, until a cut-out pass was telegraphed, with a man-on-ball tackle. The ball ended up in the visitors’ hands, and they made good use of it. Two passes got it to the Left wing, where a chip over the defence created an easy score for the rapid Student’s Full Back, 21 – 33 with 25 minutes to play.
Loughborough fumbled at the restart, but it worked in their favour. They regathered on the right, and an offload in the tackle set their number 16 on his way. A step inside was followed by an arcing run that had too much pace for anyone to catch him, 21 – 40.
Loughborough fumbled the restart again, but this time it resulted in a scrum to Macc 30 metres out. The scrum was solid, and what followed was a training ground move, executed to perfection. A quick ball to Charlie Attis, who popped the ball up to Harry Oliver at full pace on the angle; impossible to stop, 28 – 40.
Macc got turned over following the restart, and the Students were back on the attack. They then won a series of penalties, but this time, they were penalised with the legitimacy of their catch and drive from 5 metres. The Boys in Blue worked their way into the opposition’s territory, and when Mason Winterburn cut back inside at a ruck on halfway, he spotted a gap. Harry Oliver followed at close quarters clinically rounding the defence to finish behind the posts, 35 – 40.
Harry Oliver rounds the defence for the fifth try
Loughborough wasted no time in responding; they regained possession from the restart and attacked from the 22. The ball went quickly to the left, and at the first phase, they flooded the blindside. Macclesfield couldn’t respond quickly enough and the overlap was created for the Left Wing to get over, 35 – 45.
Macclesfield threw the kitchen sink at the Students, who kept trying to pull the plug out illegally. Why the Referee allowed all of them to stay on the pitch after some of his previous technical decisions was a bit baffling. Attis put in a very long and accurate penalty that created the platform for the last hurrah, and while playing with the umpteenth penalty advantage, Attis chipped a perfect kick to Tom Jennings to catch and dab down. Oliver converted for the final score, 42 – 45.
Laser accurate Harry Oliver kicks the goal
It had been a highly competitive game of rugby, and the conditions had favoured the Students, all athletes, whereas several of Macclesfield’s front row forwards would not put themselves in that particular category. The two points secured Macclesfield’s position in the Fourth Tier of rugby. We can only hope that next week season the RFU and the National Leagues return Macclesfield to National League Two North. Next week, the Boys in Blue travel to Weston-super-Mare to take on the Hornets in the penultimate game of the season and their last long-distance coach journey.
