Macclesfield’s eight-game winning streak came to an abrupt end as they suffered a heavy defeat to second-place Esher.

First-half tries from Tom Cruse and Matt King provided the home side’s only points, as Esher’s full-back Charlie Walker enjoyed a sensational game with five tries.

The Blues didn’t get off to the best of starts, Ed Styles received a yellow for a cynical tackle on Andrew Wright, with Esher’s resulting penalty scored by fly-half Luke Daniels.

Jack Clifford then scored down by the posts after his diagonal run across the centre found the gaps in the Blues’ defence. Daniels converted to give the visitors a 10-0 advantage.

A good run from Frankie Barker, shrugging off several tackles, resulted in a penalty for the Blues but the target was just out of range for captain Tom Eaton and the score remained the same.

As Styles returned to the field Macclesfield started to enjoy some attacking play and their first try came from Cruse, who received the ball after quick passing from Matt Rhodes and Eaton down the right wing.

The Blues were beginning to put together some impressive attacking displays, as good runs from Matt O’Regan and King helped take Macclesfield up the pitch, while solid defending from Barker and Dave Marwick ensured Esher didn’t have the ball for long when possession switched.

After 27 minutes it was King who had the pace to outrun the defenders as he stormed down the left wing to level the match, Eaton’s conversion from the touchline bringing the score to 12-10 to Macclesfield.

The Blues couldn’t hold on to the lead for long however, as the rapid Walker scored his first try down the right.

Another two tries in four minutes for Walker extended the lead to 27-12 just before half-time as the full-back punished the Blues on quick counters.

Esher took hold of possession as the second half continued and they did cross the goal line once but an infringement saw play brought back for a scrum.

Macclesfield did well to hold on for the first 20 minutes of the second half – Ryan Parkinson continually impressed going forward, while a short kick over the defence from Eaton almost set winger Josh Fowles free.

However, after an hour the floodgates opened and converted tries from Chris Elder, Luke Daniels, and two more for Walker extended Esher’s lead to 43 points.

The Blues were then penalised at a scrum, leading to prop Gavin Woods receiving a yellow card. A moment later a penalty try was awarded for the same offence and Daniels converted to complete a miserable afternoon for the Blues.

Director of rugby Geoff ­Wappett conceded: “It obviously wasn’t what we were looking for. They are an extremely good side, but our end product was not very good.

“We went 10-0 down quite quickly, but we got two tries back and we were playing well, between 10 and 30 minutes we had a golden spell.

“We played how we intended to play and we tried to keep and dominate the ball, dominate the field position. And then 10 minutes before half time their full-back punished us – he’s some player. He’s got so much pace and we just couldn’t cope with it.

“In the last 20 minutes our concentration went and all of our bad habits of the past revisited us. It was a game that looked as though we couldn’t get over quick enough, we just wanted it finished.

“What I’ve said to the players is that we need to be playing smart, thinking smart and, when you’re playing high-quality teams like this, that becomes very important.

“We weren’t smart today and we didn’t think clearly enough at certain situations and we paid the price for it, so I want us to be on the ball next week.

“Some of the things we were doing we were doing really quite well, and against less physical, less quality opposition it will work, but we came up short because played against a young, physical, strong, and high-quality side.”