Bournville Head Coach Matt Price admitted that his side are now facing a relegation battle in National Two West after they slipped to a 24-13 defeat against at Avery Fields.
Having spent the first two months of the season comfortably placed in the top half of the table, Bourns ended the year in 12th place and just a point outside the relegation places after a run of six straight defeats.
The latest of those was the most damaging as Macclesfield earned their first away win of the campaign while home wins for Exeter University against strugglers Devonport Services and Hinckley, in a Leicestershire derby against Loughborough Students, allowed them to leapfrog Bournville.
“It’s a hard one to take. Our accuracy with the ball wasn’t where it needed to be. In the first 15 minutes we made three or four gain-line breaks and we put them under pressure but our inaccuracy meant we didn’t convert them into points.
“I said to the boys that we have got to work what we want to achieve out of this. We laid it on the line: we are in a relegation battle, let’s have no doubts about that.
“That’s where we are. We have two choices: we can come out and be accurate and be physical and win the gain-line and we front up. Or we don’t and we get relegated and we go out of the National Leagues which nobody wants.
“That’s what we have got to think about over Christmas. We have got to rest and re-group and hopefully a few more of the injured players will come back but there needs to be a marked improvement across the board.
“Everything is easy when you are on the front foot. When you get on the front foot, the ball is in front of you, you get into shape, get into position and carries, the lot are a lot easier.
“When you don’t have front foot ball and you don’t win that battle, it’s hard. It’s a different type of rugby that you have got to play.
“We haven’t played that type of rugby very well recently. What we have got to do when we come back is get back on the front foot, get back into our shape and be accurate with the ball and keep hold of the ball for phases.
“If we can do that we will put teams under pressure. We have said that all along but today we didn’t do that.”
