After Macclesfield’s fifth defeat in a row, director of rugby Geoff Wappett insists that his bruised and battered players are ready to unleash their frustration on someone.

The Blues were defeated 21-17 at then-bottom side Birmingham and Solihull but, despite the injuries and absences, Wappett says their form will turn round if they continue their try-scoring potency.

"We’re not a million miles away, but we might as well be," said Wappett, whose team host Blackheath this Saturday.

"We’ve got a lot missing and we’re putting square pegs in round holes at the minute, we had no scrum-half. A few looked like they were out of place too, there were mistakes all over the place.

"We’ve lost five in a row and the changes started to make us look shabby at times. We’re a wounded animal right now, and that’s a dangerous thing.

"We’re going back to basics this week in training, we’re taking the parts to pieces, giving them a polish and putting them back."

Wappett, already missing Charlie Mulchrone at nine, can now add his brother Fergus to his absentee list.

"We moved Fergus from full-back on Sunday but he’s not available for Blackheath," he added. "It’s another week until Ross Winney comes back but Matt Simpson is back in the squad, so we may put him in at scrum-half and have Tom Eaton at fly-half.

"We were pretty ordinary on Sunday, unrecognisable at times, but the players need to step up to the mark because we’re capable of beating anyone in this league.

We were pretty ordinary and lethargic on Birmingham but still outscored them three tries to two."