Sat 26 Oct 2019
REPORT
England's comprehenisve performance against the All Blacks in Saturday morning's World Cup Semi Final - physically and mentally dominant, immense physical effort forcing the opposition to play out from their own third and an in-the-face ferocious defence - underlined what would the needed during the afternoon against our visitors from the other side of town.
The rain subsided and Eccles, eager to correct last week's poor performance agaisnt Bolton, took to the field first and looked up for the challenge. Eccles made a good start enjoying possession and applying sustained pressure to De La Salle from the off to pin them inside thier 22. With 6 minutes played, a misskick from the Dela fullback resulted in an Eccles scrum 10m out on the left, from which Adam Christey broke, the ball was moved right across the pitch and a try from Gavin Ackers-Johnson in the corner puts Eccles ahead. Easy. 5-0.
Eccles continued to keep play inside the De La Salle half but failed to capilitise on thier opportunites. The early score and perhaps the relative ease of thier dominance appeared to contribute to a lack of urgency and determination. For all the possession and pressure the only points secured were a penalty at 34’ from Chris Fortune. 8-0. Eccles should be out of sight but somehow De La Salle, having been on the ropes for 20 minutes, get themsleves back in it, working a 3 v 2 advantage on the right, to score a try with their first attack as the ref's whistle ends the half! HT 8-7.
Eccles begin the second period with more purpose - fast out of the blocks with a Try at 41 minutes from Will Parkinson, who scorched down the right wing to score under the sticks. Again Eccles enjoy a majority of possession, good territory, good line-out and solid scrum, but do not take the opportunity to extend their lead. A penalty at 50’ is missed and Eccles appear to run out of steam and invention. The ball is slow out of the ruck and too often it's shipped wide out to Gav who now has 3 defenders marking him. With an hour played De La miss a penalty (hitting the post) but grow in the belief they can get something from the game and increase their physicality at the breakdown. At 65' Della reduce the Eccles advantage to a single point with a try and then minutes later go ahead with a penalty at 65’. Scrum-half Washy suffers a bang to the head and leaves the field. Eccles re-organise and spend the last 10 minutes of the match attacking and hitting the gain line, but posession is lost in crucial positions. With the ball 10m from thier line the visitors are relieved to turnover and kick to touch to conclude the game. FT 15-17
HIGHLIGHTS
06’ 5-0 TRY Eccles (G Ackers-Johnson)
34’ 8-0 PENALTY Eccles (C Fortune)
40'+ 8-7 TRY De La Salle
HT 8-7
41’ 15-7 TRY Eccles (W Parkinson); Conv (C Fortune)
50’ PENALTY Eccles (missed)
59’ PENALTY De La Salle (missed)
65' 15-14 TRY De La Salle
69' 15-17 PENALTY De La Salle
FT 15-17
TEAM
1 James Cunningham
2 Jack Robbins
3 Rich Owen
4 Simon Donovan
5 Steve Lillie
6 Nick Spooner
7 Lee Brennand
8 Adam Christey
9 Sam Long
10 James Wright (C)
11 Gavin Ackers-Johnson
12 Chris Fortune
13 Shea Skillicorn
14 Will Parkinson
15 Cammy Oates
16 Cammy Higginbottom
17 Curtis Bates
18 Josh Waring
Words, Photos - CG
