REPORT
NW Colts League Senior D
A tough day in the office for the Eccles Senior Colts.
Only 13 players made themselves available (so no selection problems for the coaches at least). Kendal made the long journey south with a full squad of big strong cumbrian lads and were decent enough to loan us their scrum-half, so we could at least attempt a competitive 14 v 15, all be it with uncontested scrums due to Eccles lack of front row players.
With only two U18s in our U18s team (and Alex and Max hardly being ‘heavyweights’) Eccles had the odds stacked against them from the off, but true to character were prepared to give it their best and did themselves great credit with their determination and commitment to compete to the end.
The opening 5 minutes were a test of Eccles’ defensive endurance as the visitor's big pack pounded away. Organisation and resilience was very good, but naturally, the Navy and White wall could not hold out indefinitely against such constant heavy bombardment and after 7 minutes of effort, having failed to break through, Kendal eventually shifted the ball to the left wing where there was space to exploit and score the first try. 0-7.
Eccles regained their composure and responded well from the restart, regaining possession and taking the game to Kendal. Good levels of urgency and commitment at the breakdown combined with quick passing maintained pressure on the visitors inside their 22. However, Eccles encountered more pain and bad fortune with just 10 mins played, when attacking the Kendal goal line, returning 2nd Row Paul Stringer suffered a rib injury when Kendal players fell on top of him, and had to leave the field.
Despite this significant set back the Eccles 13 continued to threaten a tough Kendal defence and grew confidence as they successfully kept play in the opposition half for 10 minutes, despite the numerical disadvantage. The forwards probed for gaps, and Alex switched the point of attack with cross fiedl kicks out to the wing where Cameron’s excellent handling helped to sustain the attack. At 17 mins, Eccles finally broke through with a combination of Forwards drive, backs passing and a courageous dive from Alex placing the bal right in at the corner by the flag to claim the try; the conversion from the touchline was narrowly missed, but the game was competitive and all to play for at 5-7.
The opening 20 minutes was to be Eccles best period of play. Although Eccles were still very much still in the game, the colts lost some of the belief and hunger in attack that had seen them fight back to score and several good opportunities inside the Kendal 22 were not taken with the ball turned over at the breakdown due to lack of support. The score remained unchanged for 10 minutes. Eccles enjoyed decent possession and tackled hard but were vulnerable to counter attack and deep kicks over the top shifted momentum back to Kendal as the game approached halftime. With fatigue evident, the break could not come soon enough for Eccles.
At 32 minutes, the visitors broke through to score to the side of the sticks. 5-14. Unable to secure the ball from the restart, Kendal ran another try straight into the left corner at 35 mins, last play of the half.
HT 5-19.
Kendal rotated their subs and it was to be a punishing, demoralising second half for Eccles, struggling to cope with the power of the Kendal pack and retain enough possession of the ball to do somethgin with it. One way trafffic saw six more tries run in, roughly one every 5 minutes, more than one straight through the broken feild from a restart. To give credit where it is due, the Kendal fullback in particular had a standout game with a hat trick of tries and Eccles, though shattered, never gave in.
FT 5-61
Despite the scoreline, the game was played in a good spirit, with good respect and discipline throughout from both teams. Our thanks to Kendal for making the long journey and loaning us players. Our appreciation also to the referee for his excellent match management.
Another hard to stomach defeat for the Colts but the effort and commitment of all those who turned up to pull on an Eccles shirt could not be faulted. We now have a few weeks without a fixture and hope this will assist in the recuperation of our growing injury list. We wish a speedy recovery to Paul, Max and Cammy. Once again the coaches look to the players for a renewed return to training. Next game is Preston Grasshoppers away, 17th November.
TEAM
1 John, 2 Anthony, 3 Bradley, 4 James, 5 Paul, 6 Kai, 7 Max, 8 Ryley. 9 Alex, 10 Joe, 11 Cameron, 12 Oliver, 13 Tallis, 14 X 15 X
