Eccles RFC

Eccles made hard work of gaining a foothold in the game and the opening quarter was mostly devoted to sustained defensive efforts. Although committed tackling across the pitch prevented any breach of the line, and a vigilant interception from Cox saved blushes in front of the posts, repeated mistakes inside the 22 gave Aldwinians the opportunity to quickly establish a 9-point lead, with three straightforward penalties.  

02’ 0-3 PENALTY ALDWINIANS 

Eccles responded through combative work from the forwards but inaccuracy in the line out was costly, offering Aldwinians the platform to counter attack. Ackers-Johnson was equal to the threat out wide with a fine tackle to arrest the visitor’s progress. Cullen, selected at fullback, seized his opportunity to jackal, earning a penalty which was kicked upfield into the 22.  The resulting line out was executed cleanly and crisp passing between Reed, Wright and Candland opened up the space in the middle, where an attempted interception earned Eccles a scrum in front of the posts on 18’. The ball was moved out to the wing, where determined defence from Aldwinians prevented a score in the corner. Reed, returning to Eccles having completed his university studies, suffered a leg injury during this attack and was replaced by Cullen at scrum-half, with Williams coming off the bench to join Westwell in the Eccles back line. The subsequent line out was well marshalled by the Eccles pack, with Longford scoring a try from the back of a rolling maul; the conversion from out wide hitting the post 

21’ 5-9 TRY ECCLES

Despite limited possession and territorial advantage, Eccles were at last in the game and the contest remained close for the next 10 minutes, as the teams wrestled for authority, with Eccles regularly attempting to run the ball out of their 22 with strong carrying from Burdon, Cunningham, Dodd and Longford but ultimately loosing possession, presenting the visitors with another opportunity for easy points from the tee.   

34’ 5-12 PENALTY ALDWINIANS

As the game approached the interval, play remained in the middle of the pitch until an Eccles attack, sweeping across the field was abruptly halted by a high tackle on Cox, which left the hooker flat out. Following a delay for medical attention the game was restarted, surprisingly, with an Aldwinians’ scrum awarded for a knock on. In the final minutes of the half opportunities were traded by both teams, as Williams collected a high ball and raced up the left wing with the accuracy of his chip ahead unfortunately not meeting his endeavour and a counter attack from Aldwinians concluded by a knock-on inside the 22 to deny a score just before the break.   

HT 5-12

Eccles made a better start to the second half, with some strong carrying through the middle but all too often possession was spilled before any attacking momentum could be built. On the rare occasions the ball reached the wing, Ackers-Johnson would invaribly find himself swiftly contained by two men and with no space to accelerate into. Dodd was replaced by Grieves at centre and Cunningham was replaced by Higginbottom in the second row. Eccles were beginning to look vulnerable out wide and some heroic tackling from Russell and Ackers-Johnson was needed to stop a break on the right. Shortly after, despite the defensive efforts of Cullen and Spooner, a neat offload inside from the visitors opened Eccles up on the left wing, giving the hosts their first try of the afternoon and a lead that would only grow wider as the half progressed.  

49’ 5-17 TRY ALDWINIANS

Eccles attmepted to react but were unable to keep possession long enough, or move the game inside Aldwinians' territory often enough to mount any kind of sustained response to this set back. Penalties, line outs and scrums offered opportunities that could not be capitalised on and the brief glimmers of Eccles optimism began to fade as the game entered the last 20 minutes.  With an hour played a Yellow card for loosehead Campbell did not help the cause. Shortly after the Aldwinians tighthead was also sent to the bench for foul play. From the resulting Eccles attacking scrum inside the 22, Longford charged with the ball towards the posts but the ball was spilled in the tackle and from the subsequent Aldwinians scrum, the visitors were able to launch an attack up the wing and ultimately score in the corner.   

65’ 5-22 TRY ALDWINIANS  

Eccles lost possession at the restart and mounting pressure inside the 22, combined with good passing from the visitors, saw the loosehead prop break through some determined tackling and reach out to score at the side of the sticks; Converted.   

70’ 5-29 TRY ALDWINIANS. CONV.  

In the remaining minutes, a weaving, exciting burst of speed from Westwell, cutting through the field from deep, showed a glimpse of what could be expected from him in the season ahead. However, with Eccles moving the point of attack across the pitch inside the Aldwinians 22, the ball was intercepted by the centre who raced away unapossed to the opposite end to score..   

75’ 5-36 TRY ALDWINIANS. CONV.  

Eccles maintained their attacking efforts until the end, with Cox coming close to scoring, breaking from a maul but he was prevented from grounding the loose ball and from the goal line drop out a spilled catch gave the visitors a scrum inside their 22, from where they kicked out to end the game. 

A well earned win for Aldwinains who, with four first half penalties and four second half tries, progress to the semi final to face Warrington. A disappointing performance from Eccles who struggled to get going and faded as the game went on. Much to work on before the first League fixture, in two weeks time, away to Southport, 26th September.   

FT 5-36

Eccles team: 1 Campbell, 2 COx, 3 Burdon, 4 Coop, 5 Cunningham, 6 Russell, 7 Spooner, 8 Longford, 9 Reed, 10 Wright, 11 Westwell, 12 Candland, 13 Dodd, 14 Ackers-Johnson, 15 Cullen. Replacements 16 Hughes, 17 Grieves, 18 Williams, 19 Higginbottom.