Sat 28 Sep 2024, 15:00
The walls of the Waterloo clubhouse in Blundellsands are decorated with historic rugby memorabilia and it’s not hard to imagine the players of bygone eras striding through the bar on their way to the pitch. The first record of a game between the clubs was an Eccles victory in March 1906 but aside from this early Edwardian encounter and a Lancashire Cup tie in February 1984 won by a star-studded Waterloo team, last Saturday marked the first competitive 1st XV fixture in recent memory.
Eccles, coming to terms with a devastating catalogue of injuries suffered in the opening games of the season, arrived at the Memorial Ground with a new line-up featuring half-back pairing of LLewellian Jones and Danny Holland playing their 2nd game together, and call ups from the 2nd XV for Damola Ayanlaja-Lowo Harvey Russell, Alex Speakman and Keiron Reed, four #homegrown young men with a bright future ahead of them at the club.
Eccles began the match on the front foot creating problems for Waterloo with the speed of their passing and press. A series of knock ons gave the visitors possession for the opening minutes and Eccles took full advantage of Waterloo's hesitancy when centre Byron Read burst through the line in midfield, offloading the ball to Fortune in support and on to scrum-half Jones who scored between the sticks. 9’ 0-7 ECCLES TRY (Jones) CONV (Parkinson).
Waterloo responded, somewhat against the run of play, when the number 8 Weare took a quick tap penalty inside the Eccles 22 and carried the ball to the corner. Parkinson reached out to intercept Weare's pass out to the Waterloo winger and the Referee awarded him a yellow card and awarded a Penalty Try to the home team. 11’ ECCLES YELLOW (Parkinson). WATERLOO PENALTY TRY 7-7.
Shortly after, from a line out, Waterloo were able to take advantage of their extra man and the Fly Half raced through the stretched Eccles defence to score under the posts. 14’ WATERLOO TRY (Clifford) CONV (Weare) 14-7.
Eccles reacted to this set back and launched a series of attacks on the Waterloo line which remained unbreached. Parkinson rejoined the action and the game remained inside Waterloo territory for long periods with Eccles patient in possession as they searched for a way through a determined defence. Ayanlaja-Lowo and Russell contributed admirable industry, power and speed in the back row and it was the openside, Russell, who initiated a breakaway as the game approached half time. The ball was carried rapidly upfield and quickly recycled, Fortune chipped ahead, received by Read and passed to Ackers-Johnson who sped through to score the first of his three tries; the conversion missed. 39’ ECCLES TRY (Ackers-Johnson) 14-12.
HT 14-12
Game on. The second half began as the first had ended with building pressure from Eccles who were unlucky not to score. At 43’ a 5m Eccles scrum in front of the Waterloo posts wheeled and the ball was lost. At 45’ possession was turned over in an Eccles attack on the left wing 10m from the Waterloo goal line. At 47’ an Eccles penalty provided the opportunity for a strike on goal but this was spurned in favour of a kick to the corner which failed to find touch and bounced dead. Replacements Reed at prop and Speakman at Fly half were introduced. At 49’ a wonderful kick to the right corner bounced into the in-goal but Ackers-Johnson was prevented from grounding it through the last ditch efforts of the Waterloo #13 Davies.
At this point the game became fractious. The referee’s decisions were questioned and he sent a player from each team to the bin. 50’ ECCLES YELLOW (Burdon), WATERLOO YELLOW (Edris).
Play remained inside the Waterloo half. A promising charge from prop Reed was halted inside the 22, Eccles lost possession and the hosts took the opportunity to counter attack with winger Stuart carrying the ball into the Eccles 22 and offloading to the scrum half to score. 54’ WATERLOO TRY (Strickson) CONV (Weare) 21-12
Undeterred, Eccles continued to attack. From a scrum in front of the posts Booth dispatched the ball to Jones and he wasted no time in finding Speakman who, aided by a ruthless hard line from Read, fired a killer bullet pass out to the far right where the Eccles #11 finished off a superb move in the corner; the conversion missed. 68’ ECCLES TRY (Ackers-Johnson) 21-17.
Waterloo were now under pressure but fullback Topping caught the ball and set off on a mazy counter attacking run, from deep insde the Waterloo territory back into the Eccles half to set up a score to the side of the posts. 72’ WATERLOO TRY (McGarvey) CONV (Weare) 28-17.
Eccles responded and set about playing the remainder of the game inside Waterloo territory. The hosts, showing signs of panic, attempt to escape with the boot but the ball was returned with interst from Eccles, moving it across the pitch to Ackers-Johnson who evaded two defenders to run it into the corner and scoot around to dot down between the posts. 76’ ECCLES TRY (Ackers-Johnson) CONV (Speakman) 28-24.
The final minutes were tense and Waterloo were relieved to kick to touch and end the match. Eccles gave a committed performance to be proud of, scoring four tries against a previously water-tight Waterloo defence and with a little more precision at the crucial attacking moments (and all 15 men on the pitch) could have taken a bonus point win back to Gorton Street . However, it was Waterloo who claimed the victory to keep them top of the table and with Douglas and Widnes winning, Eccles slid from 8th to 10th place.
In thier first four Level 6 fixtures Eccles have now played the teams that finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th last season and, with the knowledge gained, should be able to progress in this competitive division if they can avoid a further escalation of injuries. Next game at Eccles is Saturday 12th October vs Widnes.
FT 28-24
Eccles team: Ayrton Campbell, Chris Thomas, Jack Burdon (C), Nick Spooner, Martin Coop, Damola Ayanlaja-Lowo, Harvey Russell, Henry Booth; Llew Jones, Danny Holland; Gavin Akers-Johnson, Chris Fortune (VC), Byron Read, Will Parkinson, Harrison Murphy. Replacements: Keiron Reed, Alex Speakman, Sam Long.
