Cheshire Cup - Round 1.
Try scorer - Danny Pointon.
After two weeks of frustration and cancellation due to rain and frost, Macclesfield and Sandbach U13's finally got together on another wet December day to contest the first round of the Cheshire Cup. Earlier in the season, Sandbach had succumbed to Macclesfield's running game by 71 points to nil, so the Bradwall Road team knew that they would have to up their game if they were to make a challenge for round two. On a muddy, but playable pitch both teams gave their all and the first quarter was equally contested, with both teams attempting to play a passing game. Macclesfield finally broke the deadlock with a well taken unconverted try. In the past, some of the Sandbach players would have let their heads drop, but they came straight back and the score remained 5:0 at half time.
In the second half, playing with the advantage of the wind, Sandbach maintained their high level of play and started to dominate at the scrum, but Macclesfield managed to pin them down inside the 22 and a well worked move from a reset scrum resulted in a second try for Macclesfield, which was easily converted. Back came Sandbach, with some good tackling, direct running and great support play that managed to set up the blind side flanker for a score in the corner, which went unconverted. The game was nip and tuck for the next 10 minutes, with both teams finding it difficult to introduce replacements as all 30 players gave it their all. Macclesfield completed another move in the Sandbach 22 to score the final unconverted try of the game.
This was a great cup tie, played in the best spirit of rugby with great support from both sets of parents. Thanks to Macclesfield for your hospitality and good luck in the next round.
The Sandbach squad can learn a lot from today. This was your best performance of the season and shows what can happen when you play as a team with intensity and aggression for the whole 50 minutes. Your communication today was much improved, support and positioning play was excellent and the tackling was awesome. Let's take this into our next fixture.