Macclesfield Match

[Jon B]

For all of us making the trip to Macclesfield tomorrow, there's another treat in store. We have a new No.8 making his first appearance for us.

6' 6" & 17 stone Dave Merlin will be in the starting line up (I believe) ;D

Dave, who played professional rugby until 2002 has a colourful and impressive CV which includes Worcester, Blackheath, Northampton Saints in Europe as well as England U21's with Lawrence Dallaglio, Ex-Orrell Austin Healy, Mike Catt and Richard Hill. He's also played for Pertemps Bees Div.1 side.

He has also attained a masters degree and has a physiotherapy degree

He will bring maturity and experience to the back row and added weight in the scrum.

I am really looking forward to welcoming Dave to Orrell and to tomorrows match. Having been to training on Tuesday, it's obvious the guy's are really fired up for this game, especially following our near miss last Saturday.

Come on lads!! Lets have an early Christmas present tomorrow and give us our first win!!

COME ON ORRELL !!!!!!!!!

[louisu15s]

come on orrell!!!! ;D

[Joe]

C'mon lads, I'll be cheering for ya all the way from the States

[Martin S]

Match Report...

It was cold

Report ends...

[Jon B]

Gutted yesterday I really thought we were going to secure our first win....however, I'm probably not half as gutted as the lads on the field. I could hear how fired up they were before running out on the pitch and despite a good start and some moments of really good rugby, to still come away not even having a bonus point must be devastating

It would also have been nice to start the new year with as many points as we started the season with (zero) but again that wasn't to be and as far as I'm concerned, there's never any point in looking back at what could have been. We should continue to learn from our mistakes so far and NEVER give up.

We have to concentrate on the next three matches we have in January, which are against the three teams just above us in the league and two of which are on home soil.

So to the lads I say....keep the faith, enjoy your Christmas break and come back in the new year with a renewed determination to succeed Work hard in training and give it your all on the field and no-one can ask for more. The support is there for you, albeit not in the numbers of old, but we know that January can be the start of a turnaround of fortunes for us all.

Have a superb Christmas and new year and I look forward to seeing you all again on January 6th.....if not before

[geosou]

It was the same story that could be repeated for virtually every game this season.
Outweighed in the forwards, unable to guarrantee our lineout ball therefore vulnerable to relentless rolling mauls.
Against the above difficulties virtually every time our backs had the ball in their hands they looked dangerous and penetrative.
We unquestionably have talented individual players but until we can beef up the pack they are going to be living off scraps and defending most of the games.
To the regular fans I am stating the obvious but as regular watchers know the weekly frustration is almost predictable.
If the team were just hopeless ( as results suggest) you could hold up your hands and say " we are hopeless, out of our depth, just not good enough".
However the facts are that the whole problem is not ability but weight/strength/power in the pack.
If we could just gain parity in the forwards the backs have the ability to take the team to the upper echelons of this League.
To use an analogy,sadly RU is a game where so how much flair and ability you have amongst the instrumentalists in the orchestra, you cannot win games without the aid of a gang of muscular piano shifters to go along with them.
The improvement is there for all to see, week by week, but until we are able to add power and technique to the pack we must accept that League North 1 beckons.
A peaceful and happy Christmas to all players,officials,members and fans of ORUFC.