Rugby Union
Chester 28
Macclesfield 23
Powergen Cup Round One
AFTER the euphoria of last week's win, Macclesfield were brought down to earth with a bump when they met a committed Chester side that proved superior in all departments for much of the game.
The Blues were disjointed and lacked cohesion throughout. They were not helped by yet another ankle injury, this time to skipper and flanker Rick Jones midway through the first half.
Head coach Dave Muckalt said, "We were ill-disciplined and lacked ideas, but our substitutes did well when they came on."
The game began with Chester putting Macc under enough pressure to prevent the visitors from getting out of their own half. Macc struggled to gain and retain possession.
After some 15 minutes it was no surprise to see Chester open the scoring with a try from Ellis in the corner after some good approach work from their pack. Full-back Verbickas converted from the touchline.
During a rare incursion into their opponents half, the Blues should have perhaps been awarded a penalty try after persistent pulling down at the line-out, but Chester somehow survived. The home team continued to dominate proceedings for the remainder of the half, but Macc did defend their line for a lengthy period. But, they then virtually blew the match with five minutes of madness, just before half time.
An aimless kick out of defence enabled Chester to counter attack, and from some very uncharacteristic poor tackling by the Blues, Lyle was able to score wide out and Verbickas once again added the extra points. Then, finally, some sloppy play from a drop out saw Chester turn the ball over and chip through the Macc defence. Muckalt was adjudged to have illegally prevented a Chester player from scoring and a penalty try was awarded. Verbickas kicked the goal.
A serious 'talking to' at half time appeared to have had little effect, as the Blues began with more handling errors in the backs, being pulled up for their fifth forward pass. Chester's defence was such that the Blues were unable to settle and develop any patterns of play.
Changes were made, but Jerry Bostock was no sooner on than he was sin-binned for going in at the side. However Macc did at last begin to look something more like a team. Mike Newell kicked a penalty and then a Macclesfield drive was pulled down on the line and a penalty try was awarded. Newell converted to make the score 21-10.
Newell added two more penalties to close the gap to five points with 10 minutes remaining. As the tension increased it looked as though Macc might just sneak a win, but Chester crowned a fine day for them with another try after Macc had once again been turned over. Verbickas added the extra points.
The Blues refused to concede and struck back in the dying seconds to score a try through Macc's player of the game, Ollie Hewitt and with Newell converting the final score was 28-23, which gave Chester a well deserved victory.
Macclesfield: S Goodfellow, P Allen, R Bieniasz, I Lear, O Hewitt, N Pearson, R Jones(capt), D Muckalt, A Rice, M Newell, B Coulbeck, P Bartle, G Browning, P Macey, G Bell. Subs: A Donaldson, A Palmer, J Bostock, C Williams, J Clay, J Williams and J Watts.
