Sat 12 Apr 2025, 15:00
Fixtures between Eccles and Aldwinians (formerly Old Aldwinians) began in earnest during the 1946/47 season at Redclyffe Road before Eccles moved to Gorton Street in 1948 and has become a regular feature of the playing calander in recent decades. The latest instalment took place on Saturday when the 2XV Eccles men entertained Aldwinians 2XV, looking to reverse the 16-12 defeat in January at Audenshaw Park with a win in their last home game of what has been a very successful promoted season in the NW Halbro Division 1.
The visitors kicked off in the sunshine and Eccles immeadiately showed their intent by taking possession and spreading play quickly across the back line out to Balogun on the left wing, who evaded two tackles to burst through at the halfway line and could not be caught as he raced towards the posts to opening the scoring with 31 seconds on the clock.
1’ TRY ECCLES (Balogun) CONV (Crowther) 7-0.
Following the restart, Eccles were forced to defend their territory for a sustained period. Aldwinians showed their advantage with a pair of scrums inside the 22 but committed tackling from a determined Eccles pack and an excellent jackal from Evans regained possession. Fullback Crowther kicked for touch to move play upfield and although possession was initially won Eccles were careless with the ball and a pair of penalties for the visitors brought the game back into the Eccles 22 with a line out in the corner for Aldwinians. The next penalty, 10m from the goal line, was reversed in Eccles favour for a loss of discipline by the visitors. Crowther’s kicking successfully took play back into Aldwinians half and, with each penalty won, Eccles looked to move the ball quickly out to the wings where they made good progress. With 15 minutes played, expansive passing from half backs Long and Hession looked to have opened up the Aldwinians defence with some terrific coast to coast rugby, until a penalty for holding on inside the 22 released the pressure on the visitors. As the teams competed to win the physical contest Aldwinians attempted to muscle through the middle and Chiriseri, Evans, Mulligan, Coop, Spooner and Hughes increased their tackle counts. Scrum Half Long contributed his familar vocal encouragement as the Eccles pack wrestled with the Aldwinians forwards and a critical jackal from Vidal turned over possession inside the 22 on the left. Eccles were quick to seize this opportunity to launch a counter attack, running the ball out their half and breaking up the right flank, with fullback Crowther completing the move with the score; his conversation hitting the upright.
20’ TRY ECCLES (Crowther) 12-0.
Aldwinians responded to the set back with some determined attacking and Eccles had to soak up some sustained pressure with scrums and line outs for the visitors inside the 22. Other than a rushed exit kick from Crowther when he probably had a little more time available to find distance, Eccles were composed and organised in defence and made few errors with the work rate of Chiriseri and the blue scrum cap of Mulligan regularly in the thick of the action. From a tap penalty Eccles elected to run the ball out of the 22 but the ball was spilled by Jones in the tackle, inviting Aldwinians to reapply the pressure. For 5 minutes the action was held 5 metres from the goal line with Eccles throwing everything they had into keeping the visitors out. When Aldwinians dropped the ball, Eccles reacted quickly to gather possession and counter attack. A chicken wing pass out of the back from Evans, under pressure in front of his own posts, was caught by Parkinson and moved on swiftly to Crowther outside who carried the ball out of the 22 before offloading to Balogun. The winger did not hesitate in breaking at speed up the left wing, and cheered on by supporters gathered in front of the clubhouse, he slipped past the tackler and raced off to score his second.
31’ TRY ECCLES (Balogun) CONV (Crowther) 19-0.
Aldwinians, undeterred, restarted the game with the intent of asking further questions of the Eccles defence who responded with a repeat of their earlier counter attack from deep, winning the ball inside their 22, this time with Hooker Vidal breaking out on left before releasing Balogun who, now on fire, scorched in-field from his wing across the pitch on a diagonal line in search of the gap he needed to cut through and score his third under the posts to complete an impressive hat tick.
36’ TRY ECCLES (Balogun) CONV (Crowther) 26-0.
Once again, Eccles were called upon to ferociously defend their goal line from a sustained and fierce Aldwinians attack. Chiriseri was sent to the bin for offside and a 10m scrum awarded in front of the posts presented the visitors with the opportunity to score just before the interval but Eccles were able to fend off the drives from the Aldwinians’ forwards with some heroic tackling from Hession and Jones helping to regain possession in front of the goal line with a penalty, which was kicked out of play to end the first half.
39’ YELLOW (Chiriseri)
HT 26-0
The second half got underway with Aldwinians attempting to play the game in Eccles half with deep kicks. Balogun and Crowther were comfortable under the high ball and at 45' Eccles had their first chance to break, with a searching kick of thier own behind the Aldwinians defence into the 22 which ultimately bounced out of bounds. The visitors increased their efforts but were unable to break through the Eccles defence and by the time Chiriseri returned to the field there had been no change to the score. At 50 minutes, replacements Gardiner and Reeveley were introduced and Eccles looked to further increase the tempo of the game as the Aldwinians penalty count began to rise. A big boot from Crowther gave Eccles a line out on the 22 and, with the ball offloaded, a slick passing move across the pitch resulted in Matt Parkinson breaking the tackle in the 13 channel and charging in to score behind the posts.
55’ TRY ECCLES (Parkinson) CONV (Crowther) 33-0.
Aldwinians did their best to disrupt and slow the flow but momentum remained with the home team who were enjoying the creativity of their running rugby. Jones, at tight-head, showed the versatility of his skills by completing his charge through the middle with a deft chip ahead into the 22, under pressure of the tackle. Sadly the tumbling ball could not be gathered on the wing by Reeveley for a try-scoring opportunity and Jones left the pitch injured. From the resulting scrum Mulligan wrapped up the ball carrier to keep play inside the 22. Eccles kicked to the corner for a line out and good passing across the pitch set up a promising chance but the last pass to Reeveley out wide was judged to be forward.
For the final 20 minutes the game was open and entertaining. Gardiner was unlucky not to break out of the 22 with a strong ball carry. Replacement Dube made an impact in the pack keeping the Eccles attack on the front foot and his combined effort with Reeveley to quickly clear out a ruck in defence allowed Spooner to pick up and launch a counter attack up the flank with Long unable to secure the offload as play entered the 22. With 5 minutes remaining, Aldwinians made a determined attempt to attack and get points on the board. Crowther was sent to the bench for his role in preventing a score and from the tap penalty the visitors spread the ball out wide and looked certain to score in space out wide but knocked on. From the scrum 10m in front of their goal line, Eccles broke with the ball from deep with Balogun once again evading the tackles to race up the left wing and jubilantly score his fourth try of the game behind the posts. Sam Long added the extras as the last play of the match.
75’ YELLOW (Crowther)
79’ TRY ECCLES (Balogun) CONV (Long) 40-0.
FT 40-0
A convincing home win for the 2XV who will play their final game of the season at Sale FC on Saturday 26 April.
Eccles team: 1Michael Jones #, 2 Sion Vidal, 3 Dale Hughes, 4 Nick Spooner #, 5 Martin Coop #, 6 Louis Evans, 7 Wes Chiriseri #, 8 Max Mulligan #. 9 Sam Long, 10 Gaz Hession #. 11 Tim Balogun #, 12 Nathan Newlove # 13 Matt Parkinson #, 14 Scott Harrison, 15 Sam Crowther #. Replacements 16 Matt Gardiner #, 17 Vusi Dube, 18 Lucas Reeveley #.
