Title Within Touching Distance!

Match Report by Matthew Miles

The weather was bright but the home team’s first half performance was less so as they laboured their way through the first period.

Despite a blistering start, thanks to a try from Jake when barely 90 seconds were on the clock, the title hopefuls were guilty of handling error after handling error. Macc may have been forced to start the match with a man down but they soon responded with a smartly converted penalty to make it 5-3 after 5 minutes.

In spite of the home team’s lack of accuracy, they still managed to press home their advantage. After 16 minutes H sprinted through a leaky Macc defence to touch down. This was followed 6 minutes later by a stunning break away from the Academy’s own 22. Solid support running ended with Will crashing over for his first points of the day. Will then converted his own try to make it 17-3 at the break.

The second half saw Manchester rejoin the fray with renewed focus. Luke made a break for the Macc 22 after 43 minutes, sucked in the visitors defence and offloaded brilliantly to Noah who crossed the whitewash with ease. Conversion by Will to make it 24-3.

Will then scored again 4 minutes later after constant Manchester pressure but Macc struck back instantly for what would prove to be a mere consolation. Need to tighten up on those missed tackles boys! 29-8 with 10 minutes left on the clock.

Manch then moved up a gear as the visitors tired. Will darted through to complete his hat trick on the 65 minute mark before Luke scored a stunning solo try from his own 22.

Just before the Ref blew for the end of the match, Will capped a splendid performance with his fourth try of the game to make the final score 48-8.

Not the greatest performance but the boys got the job done. We now head into the final match of the season away to Blackburn knowing that a win will mean there will be a new addition to the MRC trophy cabinet.

A strong squad, a strong performance and an equally strong support are now required to bring home the silverware this coming Sunday!