Macclesfield (A) 26.11.11

RUGBY UNION: NATIONAL 1
Macclesfield RUFC 15 Jersey RFC 24

A potent combination of strong defence and rapier-like counter attacking; this was the winning cocktail for Jersey, a team who are on song, and on the rise up the National One table.

The physical and forward-based challenge of Macclesfield had been enough to unseat leaders Ealing the previous weekend, and ensured a gruelling afternoon for a Jersey squad buoyed by the return of influential players like Dave Felton, Ross Broadfoot and Dai Maddocks.

With a strong wind at their backs, the home team had territorial advantage during the first half but failed to capitalise. Meanwhile Jersey tackled anything that moved, turned over key ball, to the despair of the home crowd, and seized their opportunities with devastating effect.

The Islanders were restricted to four first-half visits to the Macc 22 but came away with three tries - firstly through Guy Thompson, whose seven tries during 'Movember' may spark calls for permanent facial hair. The flanker's 50-metre burst finished off nice handling by Jim Brownrigg and Steve O'Brien in a move sparked by Dave McCormack's quick tap penalty.

Intense pressure by the Macc forwards led to the equalising try after 10 minutes. A series of drives were repelled, but eventually Jersey were short-handed in the backs and the ball was worked wide to Josh Fowles, who crossed easily.

Tom Eaton's penalty gave Macc the lead, but soon afterwards a rumbling Jersey forward drive put the Cheshire side on the back foot, and quick ball to the left saw James Copsey go close before Ashley Maggs, across from the opposite wing, went over.

When Steve O'Brien was sin-binned for preventing quick ball, the home team spurned another penalty chance in front of the posts and took a scrum, but couldn't make the most of the resulting possession, eventually conceding the ball when Myles Landick executed a 'jackal' turnover Richie McCaw would have been proud of.

Being a man down seemed to inspire Jersey: firstly Felton came agonisingly close, losing the ball as he crossed the line, and then fine approach work by Jersey's centres led to a try for Copsey. The full-back should arguably have passed to Ed Dawson outside him, but managed to squeeze through a half-gap and wriggle over the line.

Although back to full strength, the visitors had to withstand yet more pressure in the closing minutes of the half and lost skipper Graham Bell with injured ribs just before the break.

The second half saw an early yellow card for Jon Brennan after Jersey were warned for persistent infringement, and during his absence Ed Stobart scored a fine try for Macc after slicing diagonally across the field.

Just two points ahead, Jersey produced half an hour of magnificent defence: solid tackles, several crucial ruck turnovers and some reassuring clearance kicks from Broadfoot, who slotted in at fly-half after replacing a groggy Maggs. Pacy winger Jack Moorhouse did actually cross the line at one stage, but was prevented from grounding the ball by O'Brien's strength.

Jersey remained a serious threat in attack and, having moved upfield, another impressive handling move culminated in Ed Dawson bursting over, with Mike Le Bourgeois landing a fine conversion to alter the points tally from 4:1 to 5:0 in Jersey's favour.

"I thought our display merited something, but Jersey scored four tries to two and deserved to win," said a philosophical Geoff Wappett after the game. "They were sharper and took their opportunities much better."

Macclesfield's Director of Rugby picked out the line-out skills and influential presence of Brownrigg as Jersey's key man, while Ben Harvey was delighted with another bonus point win and singled out Felton's whole-hearted display, in his first game for 11 weeks, as his star turn.

Jersey Cenkos/ Comprop squad: Myles Landick (Dai Maddocks 51), Dave Felton, Jon Brennan (Ben Evans 45), Jim Brownrigg, Nathan Hannay, Steve O'Brien, Guy Thompson (Kingsley Lang 75), Graham Bell (Nick Trower 36), Dave McCormack, Mike Le Bourgeois, Ed Dawson, Donovan Sanders, Dai Bishop, Ashley Maggs (Ross Broadfoot 55), James Copsey.

Macclesfield 15
Tries: Fowles 10, Stobart 51
Con: Eaton 51
Penalty: Eaton 13
Jersey 24
Tries: Thompson 4, Maggs 15, Copsey 27, Dawson 77
Cons: Le Bourgeois 27, 77

Kickers: Eaton (Macclesfield) 2 from 3; Le Bourgeois (Jersey) 2 from 4

Men-of-the-Match: Jim Brownrigg and Dave Felton

Attendance: 397

by Tom Innes, reproduced by kind permission of Jersey Evening Post