National League Two North

Waterloo...........................................14

Macclesfield..................................104

A rampant Macclesfield squad completely overwhelmed Waterloo at Blundellsands to record their biggest-ever victory in league rugby.

In doing so they crept closer to leaders Loughborough Students, who took a day off due to members of their squad taking a trip to Portugal with the England Students.

The game started well for the Blues on a cold but sunny afternoon when skipper Ross Winney struck a penalty after just two minutes to begin both his personal and his side’s onslaught which, despite their commitment, Waterloo simply couldn’t live with.

Liam McGovern was wide with a penalty for the home side before the first try came, courtesy of outstanding lock Matt Owen, after good work by Tony Howcroft and Dan Baines and Winney’s conversion gave the Blues a 10-point lead.

The restart didn’t go 10 yards and the resultant scrum saw the Blues applied pressure to run in try number two, scored by Evan Stewart.

Jonathan Keep then scored after a line out and drive by the pack, the try again converted by the peerless Winney, and the scores just kept coming. Baines was next on the board for the bonus point just 29 minutes in.

Centre Richard Hughes got in on the act after a Howcroft break and some excellent backing up, Winney’s conversion putting the game out of sight for Waterloo but a good response from the home side saw their talented full back James O’Brien finish off a good attack to score, McGovern converting.

This seemed to galvanise the Blues who had the last laugh of the half when, following a line out, Owen went over for his second and the Winney conversion saw Macclesfield hold an impressive 45-7 interval lead.

It was more of the same during the second half with tries coming at regular intervals.

The home side had no answer to the siege of their line with Winney first touching down almost from the re-start and then converting.

Replacement Chris Jones – with almost his first touch of the ball – was next to score for the inevitable Winney conversion and then followed a superb team try, scored by Richard Hughes. Amazingly, the imperious Winney’s conversion was wide.

It became the Ross Winney show as the Blues captain touched down for two more tries – converting both – to make it 78-7 before the resourceful O’Brien scored his second for the home side, evading some poor defence for McGovern to convert and give the home side some solace.

But Waterloo’s miserable afternoon was not all over as big winger Matt Simpson crashed over for another score, and then Matt O’Regan got in on the act for a try converted ‘in off’ by Winney.

Winney then deftly kicked across the field for Stewart to catch and sprint to the line to touch down.

The conversion made it 99-14 with no less than 44 points against the skipper’s name, is a great feat in itself.

It was O’Regan’s try almost at the death that brought up the century and the final whistle was blown to the relief of a shattered home side.

Following the game, Macclesfield’s rugby operations manager Brendan Thomas said: "Days like this rarely happen and remember, not that long ago, we were on the wrong end of heavy defeats by Waterloo.

"To score over 100 points is an impressive achievement which demands real focus of concentration and a ruthless attitude and skill to exploit every opportunity.

"No-one had a bad game but for Ross to amass 44 points is a fantastic achievement and probably a league record. We thought for a moment he was looking for a drop goal to bring up the ton and complete a full house of scores but thankfully he made the right decision and we scored our 15th try of the day."