The Saxons will feel disappointed with the result, knowing it was a game they could and should have won. Macclesfield’s big pack played a lot of 8-man rugby, recycling well and retaining possession for long stretches of the game, and while the Saxons defence looked to have repelled the onslaught it was unpicked by a brace of tries either side of halftime by winger Ed Stobart. The hosts had enough opportunities of their own to score, recording two fine long-distance tries, but ultimately they will rue several handling errors and spurned overlaps when a score looked on for all money.

An early Ben Barkley’s run was halted just short of the tryline, the Saxons awarded an attacking scum but penalised and the opportunity went begging. Macclesfield were unable to break out of their half with ball in hand though and eventually resorted to kicking for distance and were pinned back by a fine touch kick from Pete White.

Handling errors halted both sides’ next drives but eventually Macclesfield managed to enter the Saxons’ half with ball in hand and secured a penalty in the tackle area that was kicked to touch but captain Robbie Hurrell managed to pick off the throw aimed at his hulking 7’2” opponent Dean Williams. A quick throw in launched a Saxons’ attack down the left flank, a couple of inside drives creating an overlap which White spotted and slung a beautifully weighted pass right that was unfortunately dropped, enabling Macclesfield to kick it deep into the Saxons’ half from where the cover scrambled it clear.

The visitors drove again into the Saxons’ 22 but spilled possession. Despite having outside half Gary Dipple lying prone with a head injury No.8 Chris Depper made good distance with a direct drive forward on the counter, the ball was worked right and a gap opened up for White who sprinted through. With the cover closing in he put in a perfectly weighted chip that sat up nicely for Nathan Bressington who outpaced the fullback and scored in the corner, 25min 5-0 with Jamie Hearn unable to convert.

A couple of penalty awards allowed Macclesfield to set up an attacking lineout deep in the hosts’ 22, but despite a wave of short drives they were unable to penetrate the defences and were eventually turned over at the tackle. Back they came from White’s clearance kick, the ball was worked right in midfield and crucially a tackle was missed, the ball shipped back inside to Stobart who crossed for a converted try. 33min 5-7.

Macclesfield returned the restart ball in hand and spent the next 5min camped in the Saxons’ half, handling errors by both sides seeing the ball turned over regularly but the Saxons defences were again resolute. With barely a minute remaining Dipple spotted a mismatch deep in his own 22 and put Hearn into space, he reached halfway before the cover was able to force the ball into touch. Halftime 5-7.

A penalty conceded in the tackle put the Saxons straight onto the backfoot in the opening exchanges of the 2nd half, Macclesfield remorselessly kicking for the corner and looking to grind a maul over the tryline. They were forced to move the ball though and their long sequence of drives looked to have been contained before a neat inside pass to Stobart created a half-gap as he squeezed past the cover to score, again it was converted. 45min 5-14.

The Saxons moved the ball back to the Macclesfield 22 and Hearn slotted a penalty awarded for side entry at the tackle. 48min 8-14. Macclesfield came back and set up camp again in the Saxons 22, launching wave after wave of attacks that were repelled by a patient defence until a turnover was moved swiftly right and Bressington kicked deep. The clearance kick failed to find touch and with the defence heavily outflanked White moved the ball left but a fumbled catch at 1st receiver again let their opponents off the hook.

Back came Macclesfield after a penalty at the subsequent scrum, gaps starting to appear as legs tired and only desperate last ditch defence by White prevented a score in the left corner. The visitors coughed it up in their next attack, White again breaking through on the counter before the cover hauled him down. A penalty for a cynical deliberate knock on was tapped and run quickly and a subsequent not 10m offence might well have had referee Marcus Caton reaching for his yellow card on another day, but the opportunity had passed and the Saxons settled for 3 points from the boot of Hearn. 60min 11-14.

Macclesfield dominated the next few minutes, launching wave after wave of forward drives that were held up near the Saxons’ 22. Eventually a scrum was awarded to the visitors who drove their loosehead side up to take the defending blindside flanker out of the equation, a simple pass back inside resulting in a soft try for replacement Jon Kenny with the Saxons’ defence caught napping. 66min 11-19.

Back came the Saxons, pressing attacks into the Macclesfield half but a handling error saw them pushed them back into their own 22. The alert White spotted a gap in the wide defences though and managed to pick out Stef Shillingford with a lovely cut-out pass to the right. He ghosted past a tiring tackler then took a return pass from Jarvis to blast the last 40m round the cover and score in the corner. 69min 16-19, Hearn unable to convert.

The Saxons looked to break out of their 22 following the restart but wayward passes thwarted the moves. Macclesfield’s tiring forward drives were held out though and White pounced on loose ball at the base of a scrum to again feed Shillingford at pace via a cut-out pass. He fed Matt Farrington who was just held up short and the ball was moved quickly left where a glaring overlap was spurned in favour of an inside drive, the ball worked right again to Farrington who was bundled into touch just short of the line.

Macclesfield fluffed their clearance kick giving the Saxons another opportunity, but desperate last-ditch defending held them out and finally a forward pass gifted possession back. Macclesfield gratefully hoofed it into touch and the game ended.

Coach Mike Umaga commented : ‘I’m disappointed, we talked in the week about taking our opportunities, in the end we were presented with several today but didn’t use them. We can take confidence out of the game but must learn to be more clinical when those chances come along. My man of the match was scrum half Pete White whose all round game today was just where we’ve been asking him to get it to’