so it was unfortunate that Harrogate had to travel there with a seriously weakened side. Despite the heavy loss, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Harrogate. The injury toll led to several players playing out of position and tight head prop, Jonathon McMillan played against medical advice because of the side’s desperate situation.
The positives from the game included tireless performances from the back row with Dan Harland and Tim Heaton at the heart of everything. Chris Harris and Steve Parsons were the pick if the backs though debutant 18 year old centre, Luke Edwards also played soundly.

The game started evenly with Macclesfield gradually increasing the pressure. A penalty and a drop goal from the ever reliable Ross Winney edged them into the lead but it took them half an hour to score their first try.

Macclesfield’s stats show that most of their tries have come from their back row and it was easy to see why. The first one came from last season’s Loughborough captain, Evan Stewart who dived over at the back of a forward drive. He got another very similar try almost immediately and a 3rd one was illegally prevented by Harrogate’s Harland. This earned him a trip to the sin bin and Macclesfield opted for a scrum against Harrogate’s 7 man pack. Blind side flanker Dan Baines scored from this move and Macclesfield continued to exploit their numerical advantage. Second row, Matt Owen crashed over for the final score of the half. It almost goes without saying that Winney converted all these tries.

Harrogate came out of their blocks on the resumption and Macclesfield were taken aback by the skilful attacking play. Ben Reaveley had replaced the injured McMillan and this stabilised Harrogate’s scrum to enable them to deliver usable ball. This policy inevitably left them vulnerable to counter attacks and, somewhat against the run of play, centre, Richard Hughes scored another home try.

Harrogate continued their attacking policy with threatening runs from Parsons and Harris. They combined well to create a gap in the left corner from which Harris dived over. This pattern continued and, although all the remaining scores came from Macclesfield, Harrogate still entertained the crowd with attractive, attacking rugby. Macclesfield’s defence held firm though Harrogate should probably have been awarded a penalty try from an incident which led to a yellow card for home full back Rob McDermott.
The remaining Macclesfield tries all came from clinical finishing of opportunities. They were scored by replacement flanker Chris Jones (2) and McDermott. The return fixture will be played at Harrogate on the 17th April and to win, Harrogate will need to field a strong side playing at the top of their game. Despite today’s score-line, this is perfectly possible.

Macclesfield: McDermott, Simpson, Hughes, Howcroft, O’Regan, Winney, Eaton, Mantell, Moss, Kent, Marsh, Owen, Baines, Stewart (Jones 60), Keep

Harrogate: Smithies (Rowntree 62), Parsons, Edwards, Aspinall, Harris, Davies (Hardy 70), Wickham, Metcalfe, Yorke (Spackman 62), McMillan (Reaveley 30), Spencer, Brady (Johnson 60), Heaton, Harland, Lewis

Referee: Phil Davies (RFU)