GLOSSOP STUN MACCLESFIELD TO REACH FINAL
Macclesfield 4th XV 3 – Glossop 3rd XV 29
Saturday 15th March
What a day, what a match and what a performance. The Glossop 3rd XV have had a fantastic season to present in both the league and this cup run. Travelling to Macclesfield with victory in mind was a difficult concept to muster. Especially looking at their track record in both their league and past cup results but Glossop perhaps are now coming to the realisation that they are a very good team and capable of great things no matter who the opposition. Conditions wise the day was perfect with not too much wind, a soft pitch, no rain and a strong squad of twenty for Glossop. If they couldn’t win with the team and the mentality they worked themselves up to before the game then they never would beat Macclesfield. After the warm ups and set play practises the game got under way with both teams eager to gain control.
In fairness to Macclesfield they really took the game to Glossop in the opening ten minutes. The visitors were always in their own half and defending but excellent tackling especially from the Glossop backs just wouldn’t allow the Macclesfield attack through. Glossop’s centre Jim Parker within a minute, in his first tackle of the game injured his hand which after being seen to post game turned out to be broken and in need of surgery but played on until the last ten minutes of the game, a perfect example of the dedication and mentality of the Glossop team going into this fixture. (And of course we all wish Jim a swift recovery hopefully resulting in being able to play in the final in 6 weeks time) Macclesfield pressed and pressed, piling on the pressure time and time again but Glossop simply wouldn’t let up. Eventually it was a moment of ill discipline with hands in the ruck that broke the deadlock, Macclesfield happy to just put points on the board in what they must have thought at this point would be a hard game but would definitely result in a home team victory. The penalty was pretty much between the posts and was never going to be missed. Macclesfield led the game. This was the switch on Glossop needed. Straight from the kick off the desire to score was apparent and what Macclesfield had done to Glossop in the opening ten, Glossop starting doing themselves and when the resulting pressure led to Macclesfield conceding a penalty in front of the posts acting captain, fly half and kicker Paul Whiston stepped up and slotted home to bring the game level. Back in the opening ten minutes of the game Ben Thomasson playing on the right wing made a couple of bad decisions that led to Macclesfield targeting him in attack and in a way this was a game plan Glossop should perhaps use more often as with the pressure mounting upon him he reacted fantastically, showing skill, pace and strength in attack and defence, never allowing the rapid Macclesfield wing enough time or space to really get going. The one area of the game that the home team were winning, and it was surprising, was the scrum as Glossop did have the larger pack. Although this was not a major issue as most put ins were won on own ball, the Glossop pack were on the back foot. Where the forwards did do incredibly well was at the break down however, never over committing. Enough went in to either support the ball carrier or hold up rucks and mauls in defence with enough left on the fringes to defend against next phase ball or have extra men going forward. Macclesfield fairly often were left with gaps in their defence at times that should have been exploited more. Going into half time it did seem as if the game would remain level but a moment of brilliance from centre Chris Snape, using his immense size and mobility charged over in the right corner giving Glossop a massive boost, moments before the break. Whiston gave the ball a valiant punt but despite having the accuracy the conversion fell just short. Half time Glossop led eight – three. One extra mention has to go out to Karl Hart playing fullback for Glossop too as despite us all trying and failing in the warm up, during the game he managed to play a lovely up and under catching his own kick after the ball hit the over head wires and came back down to him…
The half time team talk for Glossop was an inspiring one with many members of the squad taking it upon themselves to urge the team on, but it came down to captain Whiston and pack leader Ian Marshall to really lay down what we had to do which was pretty much carry on exactly the same but up the tempo and not to loose focus. With victory now a definite possibility Glossop kicked the restart and began a phase of rugby perfection. With the ball hanging high second row Rob Smith pelted full pace towards the potential catchers. The Macclesfield defence were nervous to close the ball down and although the it did land just out of reach of Smith, wing Will Reddington who once again had a cracking game gathered the ball, ran on ten metres set the ball up for Adam Thompson playing at second row who using his immense size broke over the game line. Third phase and prop, Tamplin took the ball on, barging defenders out of the way left right and centre before once again setting the ball up which came back to Thompson who scored under the posts. It was liquid rugby and a pleasure to be part of. Bish Bash Bosh! Conversion slotted over and there was day light between the two teams. Macclesfield tried and tried again to make an impact on the game but the tacking was always too strong and when their forwards couldn’t make ground their backs were put under too much pressure from the surging Glossop defensive line, almost always losing ground. They had strength and power but just no cutting edge. The game was eventually sealed for Glossop midway through the second half when Will Reddington had an opportunity to show just how quick and what an exciting prospect he could be for the future (oh and by the way he managed to keep quiet he turned 18 during the week leading up the game as well lads) when he gathered a loose pass spilled by the Macclesfield centre and sprinted passed and away from everyone starting in his own twenty two to score under the posts. The Macclesfield team could only stop and stare at such pace knowing there was nothing that could have stopped him unless he managed to trip him self up like Karl Hart managed to trying to take a quick twenty two drop out. (Sorry Karl it was too funny not to mention, I’ll buy you a beer) In fairness to Karl he had an incredibly solid performance at fullback never giving the Macclesfield attack a chance with tight defensive play and strong attacks despite only recently joining the club. The icing on the cake was one final try from Ben Thomasson who had since the opening ten minutes had a brilliant game. When the ball came to him about fifteen metres out on the right wing he side stepped right and left, scuttling like a crab before injecting enough pace to take him through a tackle and over the line about fifteen minutes from time. Whiston converted and the game was won.
The match was still with its moments of controversy however as minutes later the ref deemed that too many Glossop hands were in the rucks and despite the warnings, (whether he had called ‘ruck’ or not, or if we had in fact rucked over before claiming the ball didn’t seem to matter) the next offence was unfortunate to land on Gary Wilson who was given ten minutes in the sin bin with eleven left on the clock. Glossop soaked up the mounting pressure of only having fourteen men but with the subs brought on showing the same heart and commitment as those who started Glossop weren’t going to allow Macclesfield to get a try. Andy Williamson was judged to have done the same thing six minutes from time and once again the ref bought out the yellow card. It was one of those situations where you shouldn’t really get continue to try doing something even if you’re not breaking the rules as despite it looking like the ref was wrong a lot of the time at least he was consistent in the error and so Glossop should have known better. There was some great rugby played on the park on Saturday especially by Paul Marsden in the pack whose relentless dogged game play disrupted Macclesfield time and time again and in the backs the stand out player as much as it pains me to say it was Whiston who captained the side with composure, kicked well, made sensible decisions throughout and also got one of the tackles of the game when the poor Macclesfield wing thought the whistle had gone and turned his back to Whiston who almost cut him in half when the Glossop man realised the ball was still live. Everyone who travelled put in 100% and deserves to be in the final on the 3rd of May. Macclesfield who have only conceded seventy odd points in their league for the whole season simply lost to the better side and could do nothing against the twenty nine points put passed them. Wigan 4th XV in the final then lads… I think we can take them.
Team Sheet
1.Tamplin 2.Barth 3.Marshall 4.Smith 5.Thompson 6.Marsden 7.Williamson 8.Wilson 9.Alderdice 10.Whiston(c) 11.Reddington 12.Parker 13.Snape 14.Thomasson 15.Hart
Subs – 16.Rothery 17.Ford 18.Baughan 19.Bourke 20.Carrick