Week 22 national league 1 previews Saturday 7th February...
By Tom Little
February 4 2015
...including Coventry Rugby v Macclesfield.
Fixtures Saturday 7th February 2015.
Blackheath v Richmond
Coventry Rugby v Macclesfield
Ealing Trailfinders v Esher
Fylde v Darlington Mowden Park
Loughborough Students v Wharfedale
Old Albanian v Blaydon
Rosslyn Park v Cinderford
Tynedale v Hartpury College
Week 22 sees all top 5 sides at home with 2 ties involving London local derbies. The bottom 4 sides all face difficult tasks with none of them to be said favourites to gain the crucial win.
After an idle Saturday last week leaders Ealing Trailfinders are back on their 3g pitch to face local rivals Esher. No contest you may surmise with Esher back in 8th place and only having won their last one in four games. However they started to show their attacking prowess against Tynedale and if they can take this form onto Saturday they make take a few points off the leaders, but not enough to win.
Coventry Rugby have something to prove after a couple of sub-standard performances and mindful of the hard work they had in beating bottom side Macclesfield earlier in the season. The home side need the win to keep Rosslyn Park at bay and to maintain pressure on Ealing. A full match preview of this game will follow.
Rosslyn Park are now only 2 points behind Coventry face a struggling Cinderford side, who although are playing better are finding it difficult to pick up wins and are so in a relegation place. It could be another close game but Park have the ability and confidence to run out relatively easy winners, keeping pressure on the 2 sides above them, but leaving Cinderford in serious danger.
Another side in relegation trouble is Tynedale now on a run of 11 successive losses, as they entertain Hartpury College. In some ways Hartpury have become the surprise team in their inaugural season in National league 1 for after a poor start have now won 8 on the bounce and are up to 6th place. With excellent away form Hartpury should be capable of beating Tynedale leaving the north-easterners in serious trouble and one of the favourites for relegation.
A very close game is expected at Old Albanian as they face Blaydon. A win over Fylde last week has moved Old Albanian finally out of the third relegation spot but still too close for comfort. Blaydon also had a welcome win on Saturday with their pack in dominant mood, a game that could go either way, but the greater need for the win might see OA get the verdict.
A winning run of 6 games has seen Blackheath take over from Fylde in 4th place as they meet Richmond, who put up such a strong showing against Coventry. Blackheath on their own pitch should just shade it as there may be a reaction by Richmond after the hard fought and deserved draw.
It was somewhat of a surprise loss by Fylde away at Old Albanian, but back on home soil they should be able to see off a Darlington Mowden Park side, who saw their recent better form evaporate as they lost heavily to Hartpury College. The Park pack did well against the College but lack of defence cost them dearly so more of the same is expected against the incisive home backs.
The final game sees two sides Loughborough Students and Wharfedale meet with both too close to the danger zone and in urgent need of a win. Despite recently losing Wharfedale have been picking up losing bonus points against teams higher in the league, but they now need to turn a lot of possession into actual wins. Another loss by the Students could put them in serious trouble.
COVENTRY RUGBY V MACCLESFIELD MATCH PREVIEW SATURDAY 7TH FEBRUARY 2015
Butts Park Arena is the venue for the unbeaten Coventry Rugby side, whose run now extends to 17 matches as they face bottom side Macclesfield, with kick off as usual at 3pm. Another large Coventry crowd is expected of over 2000 to see Coventry Rugby compete not only to keep their unbeaten run going, but more importantly to heap more pressure on leaders Ealing Trailfinders.
Founded in 1877 Macclesfield, or the “Blues” as they are now known, were last in National League 1 in season 2010/11.Relegated back to National League 2 North in 2012/13 but arrived again in this league at the start of this season as Champions of National League 2 North.It is fair to say that Macclesfield have had a difficult start to this league under new Head Coach Giles Heagerty assisted by fly-half and player skills coach Tom Eaton. Their record so far is played 20 won 2 and lost 18 games with last week’s proposed encounter with leaders Ealing postponed due to a snow bound pitch. So far Macclesfield have only gained 13 match points and have the lowest points scored and highest conceded in the league.
Their first 10 games resulted in losses and only in Week 11 did they achieve their first win away at Loughborough Students. Week 20 saw only their second win this time another away one at Tynedale. Earlier in the season Coventry Rugby arrived at Priory Park after some large defeats by Macclesfield, to come away with a disappointing away win by 21-13. Certainly a performance that Coventry Rugby will want to put behind them as indeed was their draw last Saturday away at Richmond.
The poor run of results has resulted in Macclesfield being in last place in the league and surely with too much to do to escape relegation. Yet there is no way that Coventry can be over confident or complacent over their opponents.
Believed to have a fairly restricted budget Macclesfield have had to rely mainly on local players and sometimes the step up has been too much. However some experienced players remain when Coventry Rugby last met them in the league, with fly-half, goal-kicker and skills coach Tom Eaton always a threat as is centre Elliot Brierley. In winger Matt King with already 13 tries to his name they have a proven try scorer and at lock Dave Marwick is still going strong. Unfortunately they have recently lost lock forward Dean Williams on his way to Australia but vastly experienced Chris Jones remains in the engine room. Further retentions from last season include captain at No 7 Mike Finnemore, flanker Jonny Kenny and prop Billy Robinson. Recruits in the front row include Elliot Millar-Mills and Ryan Jackson from Australia with hooker Sam Moss back from Sale FC. Recently Rotherham’s prop Marshall Gadd has been playing on loan.
A dangerous back line, provided they get sufficient ball, includes new recruits from Longton, winger Josh Fowles and full-back Greg Newton. Centres signed include Sam James and Matt O’Regan together with a young half-back pairing of scrum-half Jordan Brookes and fly-half Tom Morton whose recent goal-kicking and general play has provided Macclesfield with some crucial match points.
In what is expected to be as high scoring encounter this game is a must win for Coventry Rugby as they need to put behind them their recent below par performances. However another large crowd is expected carrying on from the large Coventry contingent who travelled to Richmond last week who at times made it seem a home match.
Tom little
Coventry Rugby press office
3rd February 2015.
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