ALTRINCHAM Kersal's Under-13s produced an outstanding display of attacking rugby in the first round of the Cheshire Cup, defeating a Macclesfield team who have twice won the competition by 11 tries to one.

AK were dominant from the off and the team as a whole were excellent in many aspects of their play as they won 55-5 through tries from Ethan Steward (four), Max Hastings, Juan Chung, Tom Wildman, Will Riley, Maximus Nikou and Tom Slade.

At senior level, the first XV went down 43-20 at Northwich in North One West after they ran out of steam late on.

In the early exchanges it was extremely tight with the AK pack dominating at scrum time.

Both teams then started to score points, the majority of AK's coming from Jack Emerson's boot.

At half time the 17-14 scoreline in favour of the hosts was a fair reflection of a really tight 40 minutes.

Kersal conceded from the restart but battled hard to get themselves back into contention and Emerson's penalty made it 24-20.

It was all Northwich after that, though, as they put the game out of reach.

The second XV were also beaten, 34-10 at Glossop.

Despite a lighter pack, Kersal kept control at the set-pieces and were always on the front foot early in the game.

As pressure built and numbers were dragged into the breakdown, scrum-half Ged Scrase found himself free on the blind side and completed a 10-metre dash for the first score.

The opposition were knocked out of their stride but gathered themselves to reach half time 12-5 up.

Glossop kept playing solid rugby and gained more points in a short spell relatively late on when it seemed frustration had got the better of the home side.

Kersal ended on a high with a score from Ali Berryman, who finished off several phases of good quick ball.

But the match had already been lost.