34 try thriller ends in stalemate at Macc!

Despite splitting their squad in two and sending half of them away to Bowden, Macclesfield still fielded twice the number of players Warrington were able to bring along on a cold and blustery mid-Cheshire morning.

Nonetheless, the coaches continued the strategy of mixing skill levels, a brave decision having been on the receiving end of some of the well practiced drills of their opponents earlier in the season.

Game 1 followed a familiar pattern, Warrington waited for Macclesfield to attack, and Macclesfield obliged, scoring too easily in the first period of the game.

However, led by some incredible tagging by Ben Lomax, the defence improved and the team pulled off a respectable draw when a breakaway from Sam Roberts looked to have been thwarted right on the line by an heroic Macclesfield chase from their star man, only for Jacob Sollory-Park to show the value of following up and to score from Sam's pop pass.

In the knowledge that a decider was to be played, the coaches decided to avoid multiple substitutions in Game 2 and played a higher percentage of developing players. Unsurprisingly, Macclesfield were able to press an advantage but were made to work for the 4-6 victory, Kai Jamson making his highest tag count ever and Josh Wareham posting his first try of the season.

Game 3 was a cracker, five of the Warrington six scored in their eight try tally that gave the Rebels an 8-6 match victory and brought the overall try score for the fixture to 17-17!