Sun 22 Sep 2019, 11:00
Lancashire U16 Cup. Pool B, Round 1.
REPORT
Having our first match of the 2019 season a Lancs Cup tie was a worry. We’d failed to find a friendly warm-up game, so had to trust our pre-season training to get our campaign off to a winning start.
Our opponents were the newly promoted Bolton. Having won every game last year in Pool C, they were going to be no push over. Our previous meeting resulted in a 21-10 victory but was a much closer contest than the score line suggests.
We were also relieved to field a team of 19, as recruitment had been a concern after losing a few boys over the summer.
The game started with a tight opening 15 minutes, neither side showing any real advantage, until Henry ran in one of his trademark tries off the right wing. A few minutes later Henry repeated the performance, dancing around the Bolton defence along most of the pitch. Heartbreakingly, Henry's match finished early as a high tackle broke his nose just as he scored.
New recruit Louis, playing centre in his first match, ran in another just before Half Time, giving us a 21-0 lead.
Two more tries early in the second half for Ellis and Duncan took us to 35-0, winning the fixture under the Lancs Cup 30 point rule after 48 minutes.
We then agreed to continue as a development game and switched some players around. Bolton scored 1 try and Louis took his second, which Sam converted for a perfect 6 from 6 tally.
Under Lancs rules the reported scores are limited to a 30 point lead, so the official score was rounded to 37*-7.
But what a great start to our 2019 Lancs Cup campaign!
Also, impressive Rugby Union debuts for Louis Lord with two tries, and Tom Unsworth who read the game superbly as fullback.
Match Captain: Billy
Man of the Match: Tom U – fantastic fullback in his first union match!
Report by Andy Connell, Eccles RFC U16 Manager
HIGHLIGHTS
16’ 7-0 TRY Henry Conv Sam
26’ 14-0 TRY Henry Conv Sam
31’ 21-0 TRY Louis Conv Sam
HT 21-0
37’ 28-0 TRY Ellis Conv Sam
48’ 35-0 TRY Duncan Conv Sam
Match switched to friendly on 30 point margin rule
52’ 35-7 TRY & Conv Bolton
58’ 42-7 TRY Louis Conv Sam
FT 42-7 but reported as 37*-
