Macclesfield travelled to Bury looking for a fourth consecutive win. The team started brightly with a new centre pairing of Annie James and Pip Wyer, looking to move the ball quickly to the wings, Annie Mitchell and Lucy Wainwright, who both looked dangerous. Both forwards and backs looked comfortable on the ball, forwards Evie Foster, Sarah Naden and Hannah Worsley were carrying effectively and making ground. This eventually led to Naden scoring. The away side looked comfortable; however, some quick hands from Bury allowed their winger to score, levelling the tie. Bury’s heads were up, and their inside centre was causing mayhem. Bury scored again, which was converted, making it 12- 5, much to the joy of a vocal home crowd.
Lucy Wainright caused problems for Bury all afternoon
The referee was proving to stickler for following the laws of the game and didn’t allow the game to flow for either side. Mitchell was harshly yellow-carded for a deliberate knock on, and after Macclesfield had been penalised for offside, Maria McMaster soon followed. Despite some desperate defence. Bury made the most of the two-player advantage to score to give them a 17- 5 advantage and the break.
At halftime, there was no sense of panic; targets were set for the second period with Macclesfield looking to kick behind the opposition and apply pressure in their half. Macclesfield started well, applying pressure on the home side and Bury received their first yellow card for not rolling away. With Macclesfield now dominating play, some crisp handling led to Annie Mitchell scoring with Captain Mel Bramley adding the extra two points to narrow the score to five points. Within minutes of the restart, some thunderous drives from Worsley and Naden allowed Kacie Lawton to get onto the ball and score. The away side were now in the lead. Macclesfield were now under pressure, conceding penalties and Bramley prevented a score with a desperate tackle a meter before the try line, which was to be her last action of the day as she went off injured.
Sophie Barnett entered the fray at centre with Bex Ward now switching to 10 Barnett made an immediate impact with some excellent tackles, however she became the third recipient of a yellow card for a high tackle. With the game now on its edge, Bury kicked the penalty to take the lead 20- 19. The referee continued to show cards like a Vegas casino dealer. This time a Bury forward was carded for playing the nine at a ruck. Macclesfield made the most of the advantage, Barnett now back on made a break with the dynamic Shiv Ardern taking the pass to score to make it 20 -24.
Emma Lawton drawing the attention of the Bury defence
Macclesfield were now under pressure, and two key moments prevented Bury from potentially scoring. Julia Ashford, who had been a menace at the breakdown all game, made a key turnover, enabling Macclesfield to clear from their own half. Then with the Bury right wing steaming towards a certain score, Ward covered 20 metres and hauled her down five metres from the tryline. Macclesfield cleared their lines from a Bury counterattack. But the ball was dislodged. Lawton kicked through and was brought down short of the line. The referee awarded a penalty try, sending the offending player to the sin bin for 10 minutes. With minutes left, Ashford was yellow-carded whilst attempting to jackal, and then James was carded for a high tackle. With a few minutes to go, the away side defended resolutely to see the game out with a 31 – 20 win.
