Nuneaton  41   Macclesfield  35

After the previous week’s excellent performance against Leicester Lions the first half of this encounter was something of a ‘Nightmare on Liberty Way’ as the Blues contrived to break just about every rule in the book to allow Nuneaton a comfortable 28-6 interval lead.

Perhaps the less said about this half the better as my notes do not make easy reading!.  The home side attacked from the start and put Macclesfield under pressure and Jon Lowdon was forced into a try saving drop on a ball over the line before home wingman William Cave touched down after just three minutes play.  The excellent Rickie Aley – who was put under little pressure throughout – converted.

Ross Winney struck a penalty minutes later but Nuns went further ahead when Scrum Half Huw Thomas scored the second try for Aley to convert and he added a drop goal for good measure minutes later as well as a penalty to give the home side a distinct advantage and whilst Winney struck his second penalty to make it 20-6 it was the home side who created all the chances.

During this period Macclesfield lost prop forward Billy Robinson after an accidental clash of heads and he was replaced by Scott Goodfellow.

Nuneaton lost No 8 Gary Holmes for consistent offending but being a man light made little difference as from a Macclesfield attack in the home 22 a lost ball enabled giant wingman Aaron Takarangi to sprint unopposed for eighty yards to score wide out and whilst the conversion went wide an Aley drop goal put the seal on a dismal first half for Macclesfield who turned round 28-6 down.

It was clear that Coach – Geoff Wappett – had hard words to say at the break but it did not immediately have an effect as just two minutes into the second half wingman Cave scored his second try which was converted to extend the lead.

For Macclesfield Godfellow left the field with an injury which resulted in uncontested scrums taking place with his replacement the veteran Iain Taylor making his presence felt around the park.

From that moment on however it was all Macclesfield as they clawed their way back into the game and in an 18 minute ‘purple patch’ they scored no less than five tries with wing Joshua Fowles opening the Blues account.

Chris Jones coming on as replacement scored the next and just four minutes later Jonathan Keep touched down and with Winney converting two the scoreline from 35-6 down was now 38-25 with Aley having dropped his third goal in between.

Ollie Hewitt scored the next try which was countered by an Aley penalty and as the game was well into injury time Fergus Mulchrone linked into the line and scored the Blues fifth try to ensure that despite defeat a little pride was restored together with a couple of ‘bonus points’ for scoring four or more tries and finishing less than seven points behind in a frantic game.

In the end the home side had to thank mercurial stand off Aley who contributed 21 points with the boot for their victory and for the second game in a row the victors scored less tries than the vanquished.

Following the game Head Coach – Geoff Wappett – made the following observations, “We didn’t get to grips with the first half although two Nuns tries came from fortunate bounces we also had three clear cut scoring opportunities.  When we put the pressure on in the second half Nuns themselves became naive as we were in the first half.  Having said that the glass is more than half full and we have taken points from all our games. We are not yet the finished article”

Team: Mulchrone, Lowdon, McDermott R, Hughes, Fowles, Winney & Needham.

Devine, Moss, Robinson, Marsh, Hewitt, Bonner-Evans, Baines & Keep.

Replacements: Goodfellow, Taylor, Lear, Jones & McDermott G.