Sun 26 Apr 2026, 13:00
An end of season friendly on Sunday afternoon, allowed both Eccles and Sedgley Park the opportunity to field a mixed U16/U17 team in preparation for next season's merged Colts squads. Eccles brought 12 U16 and 14 Junior Colts together for Chris Fortune and the coaching team to experiment with.
Sedgely got out of the blocks quickest to score after 10 minutes. This was the prod that Eccles needed and the reply was soon delivered with Travis finishing a well worked try with a move that he had initiaited, with a strong carry, neat off load and overlapping run. Codi on fine kicking form duly converted to even the score. Denny was next to score with a great supporting run and again, Codi converted to put Eccles ahead at the interval.
0-7 TRY SEDGLEY PARK. CONV.
7-7 TRY ECCLES (Travis). CONV (Codi).
14-7 TRY ECCLES (Denny). CONV (Codi).
HT 14-7
As part of the game plan, ten Eccles players were substituted at half-time, so the team dynamics understandably changed. Again, Sedgley were first to score and convert to draw level at 14-14. The visitors reacted quicker from the restart to take the lead. 14-21. It was now the turn of Eccles to respond and Billy S, on blistering form at fullback, made a snaking run through the Sedgley defence to score with Codi slotting home the conversion making it 3/3 take the score to 21-21.
As Eccles attacked into the 22 a Sedgley player suffered a head injury caused by the boot studs of a team mate and the game was stopped to treat the casualty. Eccles switched off during this break in play and once the game was underway again it was Sedgely who were first to take control and score to take the lead. 21-28.
Up stepped Elijah who, along with Tobi, had been making threatening breaks all match and despite the deperate attempt to remove his shorts Elijah powered through and was rewarded for his efforts with a terriffic try. A fine conversion strike from Codi out wide and the game was drawn level 28-28 with 6 minutes to play. However, it was to be Sedgley's day as they found their way into the right-hand corner to score the winning try late in the game and secure the win. 28-33.
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14-14 TRY SEDGLEY PARK. CONV.
14-21 TRY SEDGLEY PARK. CONV.
21-21 TRY ECCLES (Billy). CONV (Codi).
21-28 TRY SEDGLEY PARK. CONV.
28-28 TRY ECCLES (Elijah). CONV (Codi).
28-33 TRY SEDGLEY PARK. CONV.
FT 28-33
A hugely entertaining game for all concerned and more importantly, a very positive glimpse into next season with the U16's and Junior Colts working well as a team despite only one training session and this their first game together, compared to Sedgley's third game as a combined team. Some very promising performances; in particular the U16's who seemed to relish the challenge and were not phased in the slightest with the age gap. Some big hits from Kyle, Ollie and Brody and great running from Ronnie, Billy and Denny. Great to see Warren G make his return to the squad and a guest appearance from the RAF, Charlie T!
Coach Chris F summed up the performance as "For our first game as a new team, this was very pleasing to see and the gaps we saw are fixable as long as everyone commits to training to allow the Coaches the numbers to deliver meaningful and beneficial sessions."
TREDS Opposition Parents Player of the Match: Eccles chose Sedgely's Kian (13) and Sedgley Park chose Billy (15); strong performances from both lads resulting in great carries and tries for both.
Massive thanks to Dan Aspinall for refereeing despite his blistered feet and we wish Sedgely's Rory G a speedy recovery from his head inury.
