Eccles RFC

The home side kicked off against a backdrop of glorious sunshine and the Eccles pack immediately set about their work by completing set after set, working in pods which was only stopped when a pass went astray midfield to give the visitors their first possession of the match. The Eccles defence was swift to prevent West Park making any headway, bundling the ball carrier into touch inside the Eccles 40.

Eccles were dominating possession and territory but it was the home side's poor execution which kept the game scoreless as the ball either went to ground or the timing was off resulting in a knock on. It was one of these errors which gave West Park the scrum on half way and the Eccles forwards took the opportunity to flex their muscles, driving the visitors off the ball but resulting in a penalty for pushing too far.

From the resulting line out West Park lost possession and some good work by Jack, Max and Cael kept the ball moving forward and gave Eccles their first penalty which allowed Jack to kick to the West Park 40. However, Eccles then lost on their own line out which proved to be a common theme throughout as neither side seemed to be able to secure possession from their own throw.

Eccles remained pushing forward, with Tom K and Joe M keeping West Park on the back foot with Joe Davies relishing his new role at 10 and kicking deep forcing the visitors to drop out - this attacking pressure was short lived as Eccles dropped the restart, an error which was then compounded by another penalty which allowed West Park to move to half way without too much effort.

Jack was in the middle of everything and his quick tap from a penalty gave Tom more opportunities to drive the ball with Lucas joining the attack at each opportunity. West Park got a penalty from another scrum and kicked to the Eccles 10. The home side should have kept the ball in play, an error which they later paid for when from the line out which Eccles won, a poor clearance kick gave the West Park fullback possession inside the Eccles half and the visitors returned the ball out wide and, against the run of play, scored to break the deadlock. (0-7).

This opening score prompted Eccles to up their own game and more precise kicks from Joe put West Park on the back foot in their own 10 which opened up space for Jack to come in like a man possessed and clear out the entire ruck on his own giving Matt R clear ground to quickly pick and go, scoring a try to level the score. (7-7).

More Eccles pressure forced another drop out which Raff returned with interest, but another handling error meant the score remained 7-7 at half time. Eccles must have been wondering how the scores were level as they had dominated possession, and a change of tactics and replacements were implemented at the break.

West Park kicked off the second half and the game continued in the same vein with the visitors being forced to ground the ball behind their own try line but the Eccles pack’s power soon regained possession and some slick handling from Joe D, found the newly introduced Matt H who broke the line , passed to Max in acres of space who looked round for support, and picked his moment to feed the ball to the Captain, who crashed over to score and the extras were added (14-7).

Tom Williams gathered the restart and more good forward play caught the opposition slow to get onside. The Eccles attack was thwarted when the pass hit a retreating West Park a player resulting in an Eccles scrum. Joe D was finding his range with the boot and put West Park in their own 22 which was backed up by a strong chase with Max taking the opposition into touch. Eccles were in the ascendency now but the ball didn’t always come out of the ruck quick enough which resulted in the backline sometimes over-shooting their run and the ball coming off hands and going to ground.

An Eccles scrum on half way spilled the ball out of the side but the West Park player was tackled well by Matt H, which put Eccles on the front foot , only failing to score again as they were held up over the line, although quick thinking from Joe D with a quick tap allowed him to sneak over next to the posts to make the score 21-7.

Following an Eccles knock on from the restart, the Eccles won a line out deep in their own territory from a West Park throw and an excellent break from Matt H saw the ball offloaded to Harry P who continued the forward drive, Joe M was quick to protect possession and a fast ball from Matt R to Joe D to Jack who burst through the line to open up a gap for James to gallop through the defence from half way and power away to touch down to record back to back scores. (26-7).

Jonny took the restart and made good yards by cutting inside although the ball was lost in the next phase and Eccles forwards again won the ball against the feed with Jack hitting a great line to burst through the defence and although his pass inside to Joe hit the floor, Joe defied his poor footballing history to kick the ball through on the volley and on gathering his kick he found Matt H in support to score outside, taking the cover defence over with him - the score now 31-7.

West Park took a short kick off and to their credit never gave up, securing the ball and taking the game to Eccles. But more ferocious defence from Joe M, Cael and Matt H meant West Park lost possession. An over confident set move from the scrum was mis-timed and when the ball was spiit on the Eccles 10 the visitors collected the bouncing ball and touched down to make the score a more respectable 31- 14.

Eccles had the last word when Alex gathered the restart and good drives from James and Cael created a gap for Matt R to use good footwork to score his second of the game and make the final score 38-14.

In summary, this was a game Eccles controlled for the majority of play and once the decision making and handling was tightened up , Eccles really showed the expansive brand of rugby they are aiming to play this season with some excellent team tries . There are still a lot of kinks to iron out but with players learning new positions things are looking good for the future. 

Report Andy Curran.