Sat 8 Mar 2025
The last visit of Eccles to Varley Park was a memorable 32-31 Lancashire Cup tie decided by a last play penalty in August 2023. With a settled squad and promising performances from a number of home-grown former colts, Eccles went on to record 18 wins and 18 bonus points last season to secure promotion to Level 6.
With injuries, suspensions and absences all making their contribution, an inconsistent Eccles line up has been a familiar feature of the struggle this season. So far, in 20 games, 54 players have worn an Eccles 1XV shirt and Saturday’s team sheet continued this theme with six selection changes from last week’s strong performance against league leaders Waterloo. In the pack, Booth, Russell and Fortune replaced Wilkinson, Walker and Spooner. In the backs, Jones returned to scrum-half, Wright moved to centre, Read started on the wing and Mercer moved to fullback.
Another characteristic of this challenging, uphill season has been an inability to keep a clean sheet in the opening minutes, with Eccles effectively giving themselves a starting handicap in the last nine fixtures. The last time Eccles scored first was the last time they won, 43-21, back in December against Burnage.
Against this somewhat gloomy backdrop, Burnage kicked off on a beautiful spring afternoon. Consistent with recent form, Eccles had possession for a matter seconds before the Burnage fullback collected the ball near the halfway line, swerved a tackle in midfield and sped off through the field to evade a second missed tackle and score in the corner.
01’ 5-0 TRY BURNAGE.
Eccles reacted to the set back positively and for the next quarter of an hour the visitors took the game to the hosts, with Fortune putting Eccles on the front foot when he caught a high ball at speed and charged through the defensive line. Simpson, Booth, Eaton and Ayanlaja-Lowo were eager to carry the attack forward, breaking into the 22 on a regular basis where fast ball and swift passing kept the pressure on Burnage. A break by Mercer and Murphy up the right wing looked to be promising until the final pass 10m from the goal line was deliberately knocked on resulting in a Yellow card to Burnage. Eccles drove Burnage back in the scrum but then knocked on. The attacking momentum and possession remained with Eccles but the precision was lacking in the final third and the visitors failed to take advantage of the extra man. When Burnage were given the opportunity to release the pressure with a midfield penalty they kicked it to extend the lead.
10’ YELLOW CARD BURNAGE
15’ 8-0 PENALTY BURNAGE
Following the restart Mercer caught the ball inside the Eccles 22 and made a rapid break up field, passing inside to Read who burst through the Burnage defensive line, advancing up the right making good yards across the halfway line and offloading to Ayanlaja-Lowo in close support, who with a dashing chin strap, new shorts and a strong fend off to the challenger, charged his way through to the goal line to score a great try, converted by Wright.
17’ 8-7 TRY ECCLES (Ayanlaja-Lowo) CONV (Wright)
Eccles were playing fast, running rugby on the 3G surface. For 10 minutes the game remained mostly inside Burnage territory with Eccles attacking but possession regularly turning over at the rucks. A penalty against Burnage for high tackle inside the 22 resulted in an Eccles line out in corner and the well executed driving maul was unstoppable, with Fortune scoring amongst a pile of bodies to put Eccles ahead.
27’ 8-12 TRY ECCLES (Fortune).
Eccles continued to play at speed but were guilty of not taking their chances with handling often letting them down at the critical moment 10 meters from the goal line. Bates made good breaks up the left, the pack was strong in the scrum more than once in front of the Burnage posts, Ayanlaja-Lowo and Fortune brought energy and footwork and both came close to breaking through the defence in the middle but the third try did not come. Despite the fast pace of open play, Eccles found themselves to be slow at the breakdown giving Burnage some easy exits and just before the break Eccles had to defend, forcing a knock on to end the half in front of their goal line, which had not been troubled since the opening minute.
HT 8-12
Eccles kicked off the second half and earned a scrum just outside the Burnage 22. Eccles sustained their attack but a committed Burnage defence stuck to their task and once again Eccles were unable to penetrate the last 10 meters to the goal line. A trade in knock ons gave Burnage a scrum and an opportunity to break, win a penalty and kick play back up to the half way line. Burnage, now playing with more urgency and agression, attacked into the corner and from the resulting scrum the hosts scored next to the posts and took the lead.
54’ 15-12 TRY BURNAGE. CONV.
For the next 10 minutes the game was in the balance as the teams wrestled for possession. The most promising attack came when Fortune (who was playing with a broken thumb sustained in the opening minutes of the game) pouched the ball at the back of the line out and broke at speed with Mercer advancing play up field, but the momentum was lost 10 meters short of the line as Burnage put up a determined defence. Shortly after, a searching punt was launched in to Burnage territory on the right. Read jumped to catch the high ball, collided in the air with the Burnage defender and was subsequently sent to the bench. From this point, Burnage were ruthless and Eccles collapsed, suffering three successive scores from the wing vacated by Read.
65’ YELLOW CARD ECCLES (Read).
68’ 22-12 TRY BURNAGE. CONV.
71’ 29-12 TRY BURNAGE. CONV.
75’ 36-12 TRY BURNAGE. CONV.
Read returned to the pitch for the last few minutes. Burnage were now kicking deep, encouraging Eccles to run the ball from deep and take unnecessary risks. With the ball knocked on out wide from an Eccles penalty inside the 22, Burnage took the opportunity to further increase the final score with a scrum and last play try in the corner.
79’ 43-12 TRY BURNAGE. CONV.
FT 43-12.
The result does not tell the story of the match. After a strong first half performance (and a strong finish last week) Eccles will be disappointed with their collapse in the last quarter at Burnage. Eccles remain fixed to the bottom of the table with three fixtures remaining, Widnes (A), Northwich (H), Bowdon (A).
Eccles Team: 1 Sam Simpson #, 2 Ross Eaton #, 3 James Aitken, 4 Henry Booth, 5 Martin Coop #, 6 Chris Fortune, 7 Harvey Russell #, 8 Damola Ayanlaja-Lowo, 9 Llew Jones, 10 Harry Murphy, 11 Tom Bates #, 12 James Wright #, 13 Harry Candland #, 14 Byron Read, 15 Marcus Mercer. Replacements 16 Jack Burdon, 17 Louis Evans, 18 Scott Harrison.
