Macclesfield vs Ealing Trailfinders

Match Report

Ealing Trailfinders returned from their trip to Cheshire with all five points on offer to stretch their lead at the top of National 1 to nine points from their nearest promotion rivals Rosslyn Park.

The match was a catch up after original fixture on 21 January was postponed following heavy snowfall on the Priory Park ground.

It didn’t take long for Ben Ward’s team to take control and open the scoring. After taking an early grip on the match their early pressure was rewarded when Luke Daniels sped free down the right wing.

Tom Brown and Paul Spivey kept up the early dominance with powerful runs through the Macclesfield defence and the second try followed soon after when following slick hands from both forwards and backs Llewelyn Jones popped a delicate pass to Arthur Ellis, who had a simple run into the line.

Ellis then doubled his tally when he swooped on a loose ball after Brown had done well to control a scrum that was threatening to break up.

The visitors’ dominance continued and it was Ward who brought up the bonus point by being first to his own grubber kick. Minutes later he turned provider when Chris Kinloch caught his cross-kick

Phil Chesters rounded off the first half by dotting down in the corner and then nearly repeated the trick early on in the second, but was unable to take Ward’s cross-kick cleanly.

Macclesfield came out with renewed vigour and soon threatened the Ealing Trailfinders defence with some quick ball to their backs. Wing Josh Fowles stood poised to round off a flowing, attacking move, but knocked on at the vital moment.

Nonetheless the hosts continued to find their rhythm and centre Sam Jones shook off two defenders to race home for a try that Tom Eaton converted. Soon after Fowles broke clear again and Chesters had to be alert to stop him close to the line.

With an hour gone Ealing Trailfinders returned to scoring ways. Ellis broke the line and Alex Walker popped up on his should to scoot home from the 22. It may have signalled the end to the scoring, but as the match continued to open up both sides continued to play with ambition, though without quite putting the gloss on impressive build-up play.

Scorers
Macclesfield
Tries (James 49), Conversions (Eaton 49)
Ealing Trailfinders
Tries (Daniels 4, Ellis 12, 19, Ward 25, Kinloch 31, Chesters 39, Walker 59), Conversions (Daniels 12, 19, 25, 39, 59)

Macclesfield
Greg Newton, Josh Fowles, Oli Fewtrell, Sam James, Matt King, Tom Eaton, Jordan Brookes (captain); Marshall Gadd, Matt Thorp, Will Robinson, Dave Marwick, Ben Jones, Phil Williams, Liam Parfitt, Francis Barker
Reserves
Sam Moss, Elliot Millar-Mills, Jonathan Kenny, Mike Finnemore, Matt O’Regan

Ealing Trailfinders
Luke Daniels, Chris Kinloch, Sam Wardingley, Tom Wheatcroft, Phil Chesters, Ben Ward, Alex Walker; Tom Smallbone, Matt Thompson, Alex Penny, Paul Spivey, Carwyn Jones, Llewelyn Jones, Arthur Ellis, Tom Brown (captain)
Reserves
Kevin Davis, Nathan Buck, Dave Lyons, Anders Nilsson, Andy Reay

Referee – Jamie Leahy
Attendance – 295