Macclesfield beat Sandal to stay top

Macclesfield made it eight straight league wins as they defeated Sandal 29-3 at Priory Park to cement their place at the top of National Two North.

Macc dominated possession in a first half that was error strewn but did lead at the break thanks to tries from Harrison Lewis & Ryan Parkinson.

Elliot Brierley touched down just before the hour to put the hosts further in front following a breakaway from winger Charlie Venebles.

And Parkinson added his second right at the death to secure another bonus point win for the Blues. 

Lewis Barker nudged over the other nine points for Giles Heagerty's side who stay top of National Two North with this victory. 

Sandal's only points came from the boot of Greg Wood in the first half and despite an improved second 40, the visitors rarely threatened the Macclesfield try line.

The win for Macclesfield was deserved as they looked fairly comfortable throughout as Sandal's back line struggled to get into the match. 

And it was the home side who went in front as Barker knocked over an early penalty after Sandal were reduced to 14 men after full back Simon Frewin was sin-binned.

Then on 16 minutes, Brierley launched an attack before offloading superbly to Rhodri Mayor. David Marwick then took the ball into the ruck and it was recycled to fellow lock Lewis who crossed the whitewash.

Macc continued to look assured as they dominated possession in tricky conditions with Sandal restricted to just the 3 points from Wood.

And the home side made sure they were even more in control heading into half-time as after two penalties into the corner, Parkinson barged his way over from a rolling maul. 

Sandal started the second 40 the brighter, but Macc's power up front seemed to be enough to halt the away teams progress as they dominated the set-piece. 

The second half was disjointed with no real flow to proceedings and when Brierley dived into the corner for his ninth try in as many games – which came from a breakaway by Mayor and then Max Smith - the match was pretty much won for Macclesfield.

The hosts continued to search for the bonus point try, but it was easy to see why Sandal have the best defence in the league as they did their best to prevent Macc from touching down as the hosts were forced into a number of handling errors . 

However, Parkinson came to the rescue for Macclesfield as he showed a burst of pace to break away from the scrum to dive into the corner in the final stages of the game.

National Two North

While Macclesfield got their job done, Sedgley Park continued to keep the on the coattails of the Cheshire side as they won 32-15 away at Huddersfield, which was the perfect response after their defeat to Leicester Lions last time out.

Caldy missed the opportunity to stay in touch with the top two as they were held to a 15-15 against bottom side the Luctonians at Paton Field. That result meant Otley closed the gap on to the top four as they put in a professional display to beat Preston Grasshoppers 3-17 away from home.

Chester ended a run of three straight home defeats and they saw off Leicester Lions with a 26-7 victory which moves them above the Midlands side while, Harrogate and South Leicester ended the good recent form of Sale FC and Stourbridge with 22-25 and 27-26 victories respectively.

Elsewhere, Broadstreet picked up a much needed victory as they beat a struggling Tynedale side 28-19 at home which now sees them just four points from safety.

National Two South

League leaders Cambridge put in another commanding display to claim their eighth straight win of the season with a 38-3 win over a strong Clifton side a Volac Park.

Taunton are now a point behind Cambridge after a narrow 23-25 win against an improving Chinnor team. This result for the Titians could prove vital come the end of the season.

The Old Albanian kept the pressure on Cambridge and Taunton with a comfortable 8-24 away win against Dorking and with Clifton losing, Bishops Stortford closed the gap on the top four as they ran in four tries to beat Worthing 25-10 at home.

Redruth achieved the same score line at the Recreation Ground against a Canterbury side that have now lost their last six games while the Old Elthamians left it late to snatch a 17-18 victory on the road against Bury St Edmunds.

Elsewhere, Southend brought Barnes’ four match winning streak to an end with a 23-6 win at Warners Bridge Park and the Redingsensians picked up a huge 30-10 victory against winless Launceston leaving the bottom club 11 points adrift at the foot of National Two South.