Sunday,

After breakfast met up at 9.30am for journey to Bugbrooke. Another beutiful morning, saw us arrive in the village of Bugbrooke in Northants. Welcomed by Ian the coach,  we changed and arrived on the pitch for a teamphoto of ourselves, Bugbrooke and Milton Keynes our opponents on the day. There was a trophy up for grabs today and after speaking to the Bletchley coach, we knew we were in for 2 tough games, as MK had beaten Bletchley and Bugbrooke were ” hot “. (more…)

Friday.

All met at Club for 5.15pm departure to Milton Keynes. 1st fine to Rob, Camerons dad for being late. Arrived at hotel, found room, dropped bags and all met up in bar for a quick drink before dinner. Everyone got stuck into the food and drink, before retiring to bed , for a early morning swim and the following days rugby, another fine for 1st to bed, Bills dad Neale. (more…)

A test for the boys today , to see how far we have come this season. We played Trafford MV on the opening day of this season and came away with a 36 – 0 win, although against an understrength team. This time MV brought a full squad and could Marple find some consistency. (more…)

In 5 yrs of coaching at Marple, we have usually been on the end of some real drubbings from Congleton, so we entered this game expecting a really tough match. But within 10 minutes and Marple 28-0 up, scored by Alistair, Sam,Haydn,Lewis all converted by Nick,we realised that Congleton were in a redevelopment stage. We then used our full squad with substitutions and congleton started to  compete well, but a couple of further tries from Alistair and Conor, both converted by Nick gave us a h/t lead of 42-0. (more…)

We arrived at Winnington expecting a competative game, but after 5 minutes, the expectation was blown away. Maybe the boys were expecting to take off from last weeks win against Buxton, but reality hit fast. Straight from the kick off Winnington were through 0-5 after just 30 seconds and before long it was  0-10, then the boys woke up and tried to compete, but Park scored 3 more tries H / T 31 – 0 (more…)

Buxton arrived at Marple with a squad of just 12 players, but were determined to give a good show. Three players agreed to play for Buxton and they all played with credit. this match was played for 25 mins each way and buxton have improved, since we last played them in December. But tries from Haydn (3), Richard, Lewis, Jordan, Jacob, Bill, Sam and Joel and conversions from Alistair, Sam and Cameron gave Marple a 64-0 win.

On a beautiful sunny morning , we travelled to Macclesfield. Due to half term we only had 16 players and lost 2 of those in the pre match training. Tom H spraining his wrist and Arron bruising his knee. Macclesfield had a squad of about 30 players and kindly lent us a couple. (more…)

A very early start, 8 O’clock at the Club, to Catch a coach for the long journey to Caldy. Our game against the finalists, for the past 3 seasons, was always going to be a tough fixture, but we went with the intension of giving it our all. (more…)

After a long break the chance to play some rugby. We travelled to Lymm , with hopes high , for our 1st game of 2010. After an impressive 10/15 minutes, where we were camped in the Lymm 22, some excellent defense, stopped us from scoring. Alistair going close but tackled just short of the whitewash.  then after all the pressure, Lymm got the ball, from a knock on and their player ran from the 22, to score in the corner, unconverted. The game continued to be contested in mid-field and just before half time, Lymm moved the ball wide and scored again. H/t 0-10. (more…)

This game would give us a good impression of how far we have come as a team this season. A well contested game with Marple having to defend for long periods and that is some improvement this year. After 10 minutes Macc worked some space for their 1st converted score, 5 mins later again good hands and support resulted in another converted try, after some battling in the midfield, Macc scored an unconverted try to take the score to 19-0 to the home side. From the resulting kick off, Sam made a great chase and challenge for the ball and collided with one of the Macc players, play was held up for 10 minutes, while an ambulance arrived , we hope the player is ok.Then before half time, Marple scored a well worked try of their own, good running from Sam, with support from Joel and Jake led to Alistair scoring in the corner, H/T 19-5 to the hosts.

The second half started with both teams pushing for further tries and it was Macclesfield who scored an unconverted try. Substitutes were made and the game was again well contested, then some good running and fast hands enabled Jake to score in the corner.

Macc then scored 2 more tries ( 1 Con ), then for the final 5 mins Marple pushed for a consulation try, twice being held up, then a penalty for a high tackle, before a knock on ended the game. Final score Macclesfield 36- 10 Marple.

An entertaining and well contested game, played in a good spirit between both sides and it shows Marple are moving in the right direction. Heads never dropped and the boys played right through to the final whistle, which again is a big improvement this season.

Squad, Bill, Cameron, James, Jacob, Joel, Tom H, Haydn, Lewis, Joe, Alistair, Tom W, Jake, Sam, Richard, Nick, Conor, Zak, Robert, Scott, Luke, Arron.

Tries Alistair and Jake

Player of the Week, Nick.

Moment of the Week , Jake.