Sat 7 Sep 2024, 15:00
Fixtures between Eccles and Bowdon stretch back over 120 years but changing fortunes and League arrangements in the last 25 years have resulted in an absence of encounters. Saturday’s opening fixture of the 2024/25 campaign offered Eccles an opportunity to reacquaint themselves with the Clay Lane men and gain a good indication of what would be required to succeed at Level 6. Bowdon, who have been a consistent top 3 team in Regional 2 North West for the past few seasons, arrived at Gorton Street prepared for a title challenge with South African recruits and preseason games against Manchester, Cleckheaton, Rossendale and Mold under their belt. In contrast, promoted Eccles, building a new team around youth, recalled former homegrown club captains Tom Coe and James Wright, and gave first team debuts to Llew Jones and Marcus Mercer as part of a reorganisation following the loss of Captain Fin Cox, Vice Captain Leon Simpson and Jacob Thomas who all sustained long term injuries last Saturday in the Lancashire cup. Harrison Murphy and Kahild Safi were also given their first starting selections, having made good debut contributions from the bench last week.
Eccles kicked off attacking the scoreboard end, forcing an error and winning the first scrum against the Bowdon pack. The set piece continued to be a positive aspect of the Eccles performance throughout. There was an even share of possession in the opening exchanges but Eccles frenetic passing prevented any penetration of the visitors defence and it was Bowdon who came closest to opening the scoring when a penalty missed its target on 6’.
Following the drop out Bowdon maintained pressure and a second midfield penalty led to a line out for the visitors on the 22. The ball was missed by the jumpers and landed into the hands of Liam Connolly, the Bowdon Blindside Captain at the back, who reacted quicker than the Eccles defence and charged through to score. [10’ 0-5 BOWDON TRY]
Eccles responded to this set back and for the next 15 minutes the game was a balanced contest played at a quick pace. Eccles attacked with purpose, won the scrums and kept the game inside Bowdon territory through work rate and an effective driving maul wining a series of penalties inside the 22. However loose handling and a lack of discipline released the building pressure on Bowdon when an Eccles penalty on the halfway line was reversed for a shove. Eccles regained possession but Wright’s kick into the Bowdon half hit the touchline. On such fine margins games turn. Play returned back into Eccles territory and from the line out on the left Bowdon moved the ball across the pitch where Connolly cut through the defensive line and neat handling from the visitors culminated in a score to the side of the posts. [30’ 0-12 BOWDON TRY. CONV]
The Eccles restart dropped into the hands of Connolly, who carried the ball from his own 22 through the broken field to the opposite 22. Eccles recovered briefly but a catalogue of missed tackles and missed misdemeanours resulted in a third score for the visitors who did not hesitate to take their opportunities. [34’ 0-17 BOWDON TRY]
Once again the Eccles restart was collected by Connolly who, under pressure from Parkinson, dropped the ball on his 22 line. Inexplicably the knock on was not awarded. Bowdon booted to exit, fullback Murphy pouched the ball beautifully and returned it as far as the halfway line before a shove from Bowdon at the breakdown resulted in a yellow card for Eccles (Campbell, 36’). A frustrating half for Eccles was concluded when the consequential line out led to more rucking infringements, another drive from Connolly and ultimately a fourth score for the visitors in the corner. [38’ 0-24 BOWDON TRY]
HT 0-24
The 14 men of Eccles signalled their intent in the opening minutes of the second half when Coe burst through the midfield and popped the ball off to Wright in close support, who carried the attack up field until it was halted by a penalty. The resulting line out in the corner was caught by Spooner and from the driving maul Coe successfully grounded the ball to get the home team in the game. [42’ 5-24 ECCLES TRY (Coe)]
From the restart Eccles looked to play at pace but were regularly thwarted by Bowdon who did all they could to disrupt the flow. The game remained inside the Bowdon half for the next 10 minutes, the highlight for Eccles came from a promising attack up the left flank with quick passing between Murphy, Parkinson and Jones but momentum was lost when the chipped ball from Wright behind the defense into the corner could not be secured. At 52’ Eccles introduced replacements, Thomas for Burdon at Tighthead and Long for Jones at Scrum Half but within seconds possession was given away carelessly to the opposition in front of the posts and Bowdon did not dither in seizing their opportunity to score between the sticks. [53’ 5-24 BOWDON TRY]
Once again, Eccles lacked the necessary focus at the restart when the bouncing ball from a box kick was pounced up by the Bowdon right winger who slipped through and ran unchallenged to score to the side of the posts; the conversion hit the upright. [55’ 5-36 BOWDON TRY]
Eccles made a better job of the next restart. A strong carry from Booth up the middle set up a lovely offload from Coe to release Spooner who charged up the field. The home crowd responded to this glimpse of the Eccles brand as the ball was moved quickly from coast to coast but play was once again disrupted by a Bowdon penalty, leaving Campbell injured and he limped from the field to be replaced by Burdon. A flowing Eccles attack to the left corner appeared to have been fizzled out short of the goal line when possession was spilled by Parkinson in the tackle, however the box kick was charged down by Spooner and successfully grounded. [62’ 12-36 ECCLES TRY (Spooner) CONV (Parkinson)]
Bowdon responded and regained control with off the ball events halting play. The game was restarted with a Bowdon scrum inside Eccles territory and some fine passing from the visitor's backs across the field resulted in the winger scoring in the left corner. [67’ 12-41 BOWDON TRY]
The Eccles restart was caught by Connolly, again. An Eccles breakdown penalty led to a Bowdon line out on the right and the visitors executed an almost identical passing move across the field to the left corner, with the winger offloading inside to the scrum half to score. [70’ 12-48 BOWDON TRY. CONV]
The Eccles restart was caught once again by Connolly and another Eccles breakdown penalty led to another Bowdon line out. Possession was regained by Eccles who used pistons to mount an attack leading to a series of unpunished penalties. The promising platform of a line out catch and drive in the corner was spurned when the quick tap penalty was knocked on by the captain a meter from the goal line. Play remained inside Bowdon territory for 10 minutes with the visitor's penalty count totting up and Eccles playing spirited rugby but ultimately failing to collect any points for their efforts. Eccles carelessly lost possession at the line out and Bowdon moved play into the Eccles 22 with a big boot. The ball was returned by Ackers-Johnson back to the half way line, where the Eccles forwards got involved in an altercation on the touchline as the game continued on behind them and a kick from the Bowdon scrum half was collected by the right winger to run in his second unchallenged try, dotted down behind the posts as the last play. [80’ 12-55 BOWDON TRY. CONV]
FT 12-55
The scoring sequence tells an accurate story. Bowdon were quick to recognise and capitalise on Eccles errors and score in quick succession. Eccles showed glimpses of their potential but didn’t play with the required bite or focus at the critical moments. Plenty of things for this developing 1XV team to sharpen up in preparation for the trip to Crewe and Nantwich next week. On a more positive note, Eccles succeeded in fielding four mens teams on Saturday with the 2XV defeating Kendal 56-14, 3XV defeating North Manchester 44-15 and the 4XV loosing 26-17 at Manchester.
