Sat 15 Feb 2025
Eccles visited the impressive Sandbach estate on Saturday and were outclassed by the hosts in front of a large home crowd. Eccles, decimated by injuries, fielded an unsettled team with call ups from the 2XV and a first team debut for Rhys Connor. Sandbach, who played their rugby at level 5 last season featured talent from the Championship and National 1 in their line up. The mismatch between the teams at opposite ends of the table was immediately clear in the gloomy drizzle as Eccles made a disastrous start to the game - a repeat of the opening at Douglas last week - suffering three fatal blows before they had time to find their feet.
The first strike came straight from the Kick Off with a defensive lineout in the corner. Spooner successfully intercepted the ball in the air which was gathered and grounded in-goal under pressure by Chiriseri. From the resulting 5m scrum the Sandbach openside flanker breezed through a gap in the Eccles defence to dot down at the side of posts to open the scoring.
3’ 7-0 TRY SANDBACH (Butler) CONV (Randle).
From the restart Eccles found themselves pinned inside their territory and struggling to hold onto possession in the wet conditions. Fortune made a promising break in the centre, only for his rocket pass to bounce off Candland alongside him for a knock on and provide Sandbach with a scrum just outside the 22, which in turn lead to a penalty. From the line out in the corner the Sandbach second row forwards combined to power over the line to score next to the posts.
9’ 14-0 TRY SANDBACH (Oakden) CONV (Randle).
Eccles had not yet left their half and handling errors were proving costly. Following the restart Eccles responded, running the ball, building momentum and moving into Sandbach territory until a short pass from Wright was knocked on giving Sandbach the platform to move the game back into Eccles territory. From another line out in the 22 the second row crashed through in the corner to score the third try; converted with an accurate kick from out wide.
13’ 21-0 TRY SANDBACH (Arundale) CONV (Randle).
Sandbach were focussed, organised, ruthless. Eccles, who had barely held the ball, were the opposite and set about galvanising themselves into action. For the next 10 minutes play was mostly kept inside the Sandbach half with Eccles enjoying the greater share of possession, moving the ball efficiently and succeeding in the scrum. However, they were unable to break through the line and with penalty kicks failing to find touch there was no advancement into the opposition 22. The absence of any kicking game from Eccles in the dreary conditions meant that Sandbach were rarely troubled. Play eventually moved back into Eccles territory and from a goal line drop out the big Sandbach lock returned the ball with interest, setting up an attack with the winger dancing through the tackles to score in the corner and claim the extras with a well aimed kick from out wide.
28’ 28-0 TRY SANDBACH (Randle) CONV (Randle).
As at Douglas the previous week, a yellow card for Eccles on the half hour mark lead to a penalty 10 meters out and another score, with the Sandbach Blindside powering over the line to the side of the sticks.
30’ YELLOW ECCLES (Chiriseri).
31’ 35-0 TRY SANDBACH (Perkins) CONV (Randle).
With a lack of variety in the Eccles restart, Sandbach were well positioned to return the ball each time and on this occasion a well aimed 50/22 kick secured them another attacking lineout. Eccles earned brief respite winning a penalty at the scrum but Speakman failed to find touch with his kick and Sandbach ran the ball across the pitch, a move completed by the big lock who carried through contact and offloaded to the Blindside for his second score of the afternoon. With a commanding six try lead at the break Sandbach departed for the comfort of their changing room, leaving Eccles on the soaked pitch to contemplate the situation.
39’ 42-0 TRY SANDBACH (Perkins) CONV (Randle).
HT 42-0
The second half began in much the same fashion as the first half but with the added interest in the opening minutes of the Sandbach Tighthead swinging punches. As the wrestle of bodies continued on the floor the game played on across the pitch with the Sandbach Fullback finding his supporting winger, who chipped the ball through the Eccles defence to score in the corner.
44’ 47-0 TRY SANDBACH (Randle).
Eccles made an effort to respond and for a short period they were driving their opponents back in the scrum and winning penalties in the Sandbach half but this was not sustained. On turning over possession inside their 22 Sandbach simply used a big boot up field to put the ball back into Eccles territory, where upon Ackers-Johnson misjudged his tackle to bring down the chasing Sandbach winger, play continued and the supporting outside centre collected the loose ball and carried over the line to score in the corner.
50’ 52-7 TRY SANDBACH (Cole).
Nothing was going for Eccles. Even the restart was kicked dead. The game remained around the halfway line, the rain continued and the penalty count increased. Eccles emptied the bench, Coop for Wilkinson, Connor for Burdon, Oates for Speakman. Oates, in his gleaming persil white shorts was soon visibly involved in the action at Fullback, sweeping up the ball and busily injecting some energy and belief into the Eccles attack. Sandbach were now having to work harder in defence and Eccles were rewarded for this persistence when Blindside Ayanlaja-Lowo picked up the ball centre field, and driving through a gap he evaded several tackles to charge through and score.
59’ 52-7 TRY ECCLES (Ayanlaja-Lowo) CONV (Oates).
The contest toiled away in the middle of the pitch with Eccles searching to unlock the determined Sandbach defence until a second yellow card changed the direction of play, leading to a break for the hosts on the wing, and with a surplus of forwards the number eight carried and offloaded to his support for what would be the final try of the match in the corner.
67’ YELLOW ECCLES (Simpson)
70’ 57-7 TRY SANDBACH (Murphy).
In the dying minutes, Sandbach attempted to launch one last attack but their forwards were unable to punch through a valiant Eccles goal line defence which held out to reclaim the ball before the game was brought to an end. Man of the match went to Sandbach 13 Cole and the hosts recognised Eccles 13 Read for his performance.
FT 57-7
Eccles worked hard but were unable to recover from a poor start and were unable to kick accurately or keep possession for long enough to create opportunities for points. It gets no easier for Eccles who, without the luxury of recovery weekends, remain fixed to the bottom of the table and next Saturday will face Waterloo, who are level with Sandbach at the top.
Eccles team: 1 Sam Simpson #, 2 Jack Burdon, 3 James Aitken, 4 Nick Spooner #, 5 Joe Wilkinson, 6 Damola Ayanlaja-Lowo #, 7 Wesley Chiriseri #, 8 Henry Booth, 9 Llew Jones, 10 James Wright #, 11 Gavin Akers-Johnson, 12 Harry Candland # (VC), 13 Byron Read, 14 Chris Fortune, 15 Alex Speakman #. Replacements: 16 Rhys Connor, 17 Martin Coop #, 18 Cammy Oates #.
The gloom for Eccles did not improve on the adjacent pitch, where the 2XV were 27-0 down at half time to Sandbach 2XV, before fighting back in the second half to record a full time result 27-3.
Eccles 2XV team: 1 Sion Vidal, 2 Andrew Laidlaw, 3 Dale Hughes , 4 Tom Cresswell, 5 Matt Bown, 6 Louis Evans, 7 Reece Walker #, 8 Michael Jones #. 9 Tim Cullen #, 10 Danny Holland #, 11 Tim Balogun #, 12 Harry-Spencer Jones, 13 Tom Bates #, 14 Matt Parkinson # (C), 15 Sam Crowther #. Replacement: 16 Vusi Dube
