Sun 26 Jan 2020, 11:00
REPORT
Eccles took to the field this week to take on Broughton Park in the Cup and despite an early scare they managed to chalk up another win against a spirited side
Broughton Park started strongly and indeed opened the scoring after a scrum on the right hand side just inside the Eccles half , the ball moving sharply and the Broughton Park centre evading all efforts to stop him by flying in over in the corner and then adding the 2 points himself to give the visitors an early 0 – 7 lead.
The early set back sparked the Eccles outfit into action and they were soon on the front foot after some smart interplay down the left hand side created the overlap but the final pass went behind Raff and out of play but this only delayed the inevitable as the Eccles line-out turned the ball over and James drove towards the defence only for a high tackle to halt him, albeit temporarily, as the tap was taken and James crashed over to the left of the posts and Jack duly obliged to level the scores at 7 – 7.
One try soon brought two and following an Eccles scrum after the kick off not going the full 10 some slick handling from Joe at the base of the scrum fed Sam who timed his pass to perfection allowing Jack to crash through the would be defenders and when he spotted Matty supporting he offloaded with ease and Matty did the rest to end an excellent move straight from the training ground - Jack slotted over the extras making the score 14 – 7.
The Eccles pack were beginning to dominate now and won the scrum against the feed which then led to a penalty to the home side , Eccles should have utilised this opportunity more but the ball was turned over in the ruck and the Broughton Park danger man kicked ahead only for Sam and Lucas to chase back after spotting the danger and nullifying the threat with some brave defence.
Eccles were keen to move the ball and only some strong Broughton Park defence stopped Eccles increasing the lead although the next chance came when Jack intercepted a speculative pass from the base of the scrum and seemed certain to score only for the away sides cover defence somehow finding the extra speed to hold him up over the line . Again, this was only a temporary reprieve though as some great work by Ewan in turning the ball over allowed James to collect the ball at the back of the ruck and go over out wide - Jack pushed the conversion wide but now the score was 19 – 7.
The kick off was returned with interest by Leighton putting Eccles on the front foot again but some over eagerness resulted in a turnover and with the visitors feeling the pressure they kicked long to Bailey who was covering at full-back after a reshuffle , some excellent rucking by Cael set the ball back and when James picked it and drove forwards more good hands found Jack who turned provider again this time with a smart inside ball to Sam who didn’t break stride and galloped to the line - Jack made no mistake and the half time score was 26 – 7
The second half started as the first ended with Eccles calling the shots forcing Broughton Park to take a penalty to reduce the deficit to 16 points, this gave the visitors renewed confidence and after a short kick off Eccles reacted slowly which allowed Broughton Park to drive forward and make a clean break through the middle of the field , the effort from Leighton to chase down the attacker was deemed too high by the official who awarded the penalty try by showing the 30 on field players a clean pair of heels and giving the 5 points under the post - the conversion was made and the game was now in the balance at 26 – 17
Eccles brushed off the early scores and found their rhythm again and probably should have added to their score straight away but some over eagerness and the odd wrong decision meant a couple of great opportunities were missed.
All the action was now in the Broughton Park half and a penalty to Eccles for the away side going over gave Eccles another set piece and again the home side were ruthless with Sam enjoying his positional change feeding Leighton who outpaced the cover and even went round under the posts to make the 2 points a formality 33 – 17
That seemed to knock the stuffing out of the visitors and even their short kick off which worked the first time was expertly pouched by Matty and when Eccles got the penalty a quick tap from Jack seemed nailed on to allow Sam to add to his tally but it was called back for a forward pass
Broughton Park were finding it to get any real field position and even when they got the ball they were met with a wall of blue and white. Eccles were really in the ascendancy now and could have scored more but the final pass let them down with the line begging and when Broughton Park had the scrum Ollie broke quickly to close the threat down but was penalised for a high tackle and shown the yellow card following a team warning for persistent high tackles.
Playing with 14 men didn’t dampen the sprits though and another flowing move after turning over the ball allowed Lucas to start and finish the play by swooping round the back of his own players to create the overlap and slide in the corner – Jack made the difficult kick look easy by splitting the uprights from the touchline to extend the lead to 40 – 17
Eccles knocked on from the next kick off and this was quickly followed by another penalty which gave the away side more field position, they gamely tried to ship the ball but Fletcher wasn’t in a charitable mood and despatched his opposite number into touch. From the resulting line out Joe tried a smart kick through spotting the defence out of position but in rolled just into touch on the far side – this worked to perfection though as the ball came loose from Broughton Park’s line out and another opportunist touch down by Joe increased the lead and Jack added the extras again to make it now 47 – 17
The final score of the day was well deserved by Jack who touched down himself after turning provider earlier in the game, the Eccles pack again punished the opposition at the scrum and although they turned the ball over the visitors opted for field position and kicked down the middle to Sam who stepped inside a couple of attempts and in a role reversal from earlier on the day moved the ball to Jack who went in out wide – the kick was wide but the final score was a comprehensive win for Eccles at 52 – 17
This truly was an all-round display of pace, power combined with clinical set plays and some resolute defence. All the lads are gelling and you can see the beginnings of something really special taking shape
