Eccles RFC

The Eccles Colts retuned to North West Colts League action on Sunday when they took on Trafford MV at Finny Bank Road.  Eccles learned a hard lesson last Sunday, when a bare 15 faced the Sale Senior Colts who arrived with a full bench of replacements for a friendly fixture. With Eccles reduced to 14 following an injury, and loaning an opposition front row player in order to continue, Sale took full advantage of their superior numbers and fresh legs, to pull away from what had been a close first half competition with a half time score of 7-10, to claim a 14-41 victory in the second half.  

Trafford took the kick off and succeeded in keeping Eccles pinned inside their own territory for the opening phases of play. Eccles initially retained good possession but were unable to take play much further than the half way line. As the two teams sized each other up searching for defensive gaps, the game remained in the middle of the pitch for long periods with possession regularly changing hands as the ball was spilled and knocked on, either in contact or with handling errors, as both hosts and visitors attempted to play at a frenetic pace. In these early exchanges two features became clear - TMV had an effective back line of athletes including a strong, direct centre and Eccles had strong pack capable of driving TMV backwards in the scrum. In this regard, the domination of the Eccles starting forwards (Max, Chayse, Josh, Harry G, Tom W, Raff, Harry P, Matt H) meant they were twice penalised for pushing too far. 

The game was evenly matched and remained scoreless for 25 minutes with good tackling from both teams and TMV enjoying the better attacking opportunities.  Fin made an outstanding try-saving tackle on his wing, when the bouncing ball looked to have evaded him and the attacker was despatched into touch. Lucas contributed his dependable defensive protection at Fullback. Eccles held its ground, soaking up the pressure to keep their opponents outside the 22, but were seemingly unable to keep hold of their own ball for very long when breaking out. The wind contributed to inaccurate passing and fumbled handling, but by far the biggest influence on Eccles inability to progress further up the field was their own urgency and lack of depth in attack. With 26 minutes played, some careless, rushed play from Eccles gave TMV the first clear opportunity to strike, and with good handling and running their backs moved the ball quickly across the pitch to create an overlap and score on the right to break the deadlock. 5-0.             

A few words behind the posts was all that was needed to remind Eccles of the importance of possession and playing the game in the opposition half. Following the restart, powerful carries from Chayse, Jack, Harry G, Tom and Matt disrupted the TMV defence and the attacking momentum shifted to Eccles. Regular penalties in midfield allowed Eccles to kick to touch and regain the ball with good work from Raff in the Line Out. As Eccles pressed into the 22, and the backs had space to exploit, the sight of the goal line was too enticing for Fly-Half Leighton who attempted a deft kick and chase through the line which was dealt with by the TMV fullback. Eccles were now applying sustained pressure and the next penalty was kicked by Jack accurately to touch 10m out from the goal line. The resulting line out was a textbook execution of a catch and drive from the Eccles Panzer pack, with Harry P securing the ball at the back of the maul to score the equalising try on 33 minutes. The remaining minutes of the half were played out in midfield with Eccles in possession and playing with more composure.       

Eccles kicked off the second half and were right into the action, with front and second row replacements Cael, Blake, Evan G, Joe M; James at Blindside and Alex on the wing all fired up and looking to make an instant impression on the game. With just 2 minutes played Big Joe was marauding through midfield tearing up trees whilst Joe D was buzzing behind the rucks looking to cause clenched hair with the coaches and chaos in the TMV defence with a bouncing bomb chip to the left corner. With a certain amount of good fortune, the tumbling, loose ball was not gathered by the defenders and Alex, alert to the opportunity, terrorised and pounced to score, to put Eccles ahead before the hosts had the chance to catch their breath. Jack’s trusty right boot slotted home the conversion for the extras. 5-12. 

For the next 10 minutes Eccles had their tails up and continued to dominate possession, regularly breaking out of their territory with blazing, blue-capped, big back row ball carrying from Matty H and James. The backs improved their depth and swift handling between Jack, Chaz, and Lucas succeeded in keeping the ball and keeping attacking momentum with the visitors. With Cael, Blake and Harry P providing close support, Chayse carving out some great lines and Joe M smashing through any gaps in front of him there was no let up for TMV. The Eccles forwards were enjoying the rolling play and a charge up the right flank saw number 8 Matt break the line to offload to supporting lock Joe, who in turn offloaded in the tackle to supporting prop Cael, whose safe hands carried the ball over the line for the try, 5m in from the corner, to delight of his team mates. 5-17.             

Matt H caught the restart and made good yards, but Trafford were determined to respond and enjoyed a period of possession inside Eccles territory. However, good disruptive work by Evan G at the line out and more solid tackling from Lucas and the centres limited the host's opportunities to attack. The only TMV try attempt of note was held up when Joe D latched on to a big forward to cushion him from the ground!  

 Eccles continued to dominate the scrum and possession, controlling the remainder of the game, which was played in the main inside the TMV half. Matt R re-entered the fray for the last 15 minutes, as a replacement for Fin. His darting, weaving advances up the right wing offered promise but another try remained out of reach. In the final minutes, with Eccles pressing for a fourth try a penalty was awarded in front of the uprights, and following Cael’s enthusiastic semaphore, Jack kicked the goal to conclude the match. 

FT 5-20.

The colts showed good resilience to fight back from behind to power on and win the game in style, with good discipline, good work rate, a powerful scrum and a fully committed bench all contributing to a strong all round performance. Next Sunday the colts will be looking to continue their unbeaten run in the League when they travel to Widnes in a Top of The Table clash.  

Report CG.