Recalling friends no longer with us
THE long-awaited new season eventually started at Priory Park after a 17 month lay-off.
Sadly we had two whistles before kick-off, to signal a minute’s silence for the 13 members and friends that had passed away during the Covid lockdown months.
We would start the season against Burnage Rugby Club, once an old boys club, that has developed over the years to become a strong club in their community, with a 3G pitch and a 9-hole golf course, as well as the very popular Foot Golf, all providing a valuable income.
This would be Burnage’s second visit to the North Premier, but as their Alikadoos feared, probably premature in their recent development.
That said, they were a strong side used to winning in the previous season; and coached by ex Macclesfield Player Coaches, Dave Muckalt and Chris Jones.
There was a noticeable gap in some skill sets, and the pace that Macclesfield played at put Burnage under a lot of pressure, but they took the chances that came their way, scoring three tries, against Macclesfield’s seven.
It has been a very long lay-off and both teams were still missing players.
I would expect Burnage to take a fare few scalps, once they are up and running, particularly on their home 3G pich.
Elsewhere, Macclesfield’s other likely stiff competitors also won; Preston Grasshoppers hammered newcomers Northwich 77-0, who can’t now be relishing the visit of Macclesfield next weekend, Otley beat newcomers York 33-10 and Billingham beat Wirral 29-0.
The second team had a challenging game away at Chester, kicking off at 12.30. The squad was missing 12 players, through injuries and unavailability and sadly had to travel with only 14 players to fulfil the fixture.
Many of last season’s Colts made up the number, and according to Coach Russ Tomlinson, all did a valiant job. It was always going to be a hiding-to-nothing, but the boys did well, getting points on the score-sheet. The final score was 71-19, but fingers crossed next week will be different with a full squad to take on Sedgley Park at home.
I spoke to the Colts in the Sin Bin bar, on their return, and they were far from down-hearted, on the contrary they’d had had a great day playing ‘Senior Rugby’ for the first time – I can almost remember it! And, there were tales to tell; after the early kick-off they returned to the Club to help out their mates on the third team. With minutes to go, and Macclesfield losing, Harry Marchington entered the fray for his second game of the day; receiving the ball for the first time, he ran in to score the winning try!
The Fourth team started their campaign away to Burnage 3rds, going down 34-15.
Next Saturday we visit Northwich, followed by Otley at home, for Super Saturday with the Food and Drinks Festival – book yourself in for lunch and a spectacular day of entertainment.