Eccles RFC

Eccles Colts returned to action after a couple of transition weekends on Sunday and were looking to complete a double over an Aldwinians team looking to revenge their recent defeat in the Lancashire Colts Trophy Quarter Final.

Eccles took the field with 14 players out of a 23-man squad to mirror the visitor's numbers who were waiting for a few late arrivals and Eccles were on the front foot straight away with Max gathering the kick off and scattering the first 2 defenders to leave Eccles with possession on the half way line.

Eccles were controlling the game early on with some excellent running from Joe M, Cael and Tom W who were constantly punching holes in the visitors defence giving Matt R and Joe D playing 9 and 10 respectively early ball. The first score didn’t seem to be far away and it was the ever impressive and recently mullet-less Harry P who was first to react to a loose ball to scoot over from 15 yards out to open the scoring and giving Alex the easiest of conversions by touching down behind the uprights to give the home side an early 7-0 lead.

Aldwinians restarted the game and found Joe M who, just like Max had done previously, burst through the initial defenders which allowed the ball to be moved out to Raff who made some excellent yards down the right hand side, although a penalty followed for not releasing which set the tone for a stop-start game where momentum was hard to come by due to a lot of stoppages.

The Eccles defence was on top form and the only outlet for the visitors was to kick at every opportunity but the back line of Lucas , Alex and Finn returned the ball with interest every time which allowed Matt H and Ollie to keep driving the visitors back with punishing runs which set the platform for Eccles second try with Joe M deservedly crashing through on the 22m line and showing a real turn of pace to ghost past the cover defence and leave the last defender in his wake to dive over just to the right of the posts and move the score to 14-0 with Alex kicking the conversation. This advancement was impressive considering Eccles were a man down at this point due to a yellow card.

Eccles final score of the half came after some quick thinking from Matt R when following an Eccles penalty he took a quick tap which caught the away side napping and expertly drew the fullback before passing to the ever alert Joe D who jinked his way over from 20m. Aldwinians lost a player for a late feet-first lunge into Joe as he scored. Alex slotted home his third straight forward kick of the afternoon and move the score to 21-0 at half time. 

HT 21-0

The second half commenced with a raft of changes from Eccles with Evan S, Blake, Chayse and Josh all bolstering the pack with fresh legs whilst James, Evan G and a freshly trimmed Leighton all joining the back line which made the initial stages a little clunky while the home side found their rhythm and this allowed a period of pressure from the visitors who benefited from back to back penalties to open their account when a try was awarded after a kick through and chase. Although Joe D showed excellent pace to catch and challenge the Aldwinians' attacker, the referee deemed that the away team got their hand to the ball first and the score was now 21-7.

Eccles got play underway and quickly turned the ball over but the game was disrupted by penalties at what felt like every breakdown. Eccles did manage to make at least 40 metres through a terrific driving maul to which the visitors had no answer, but some poor discipline meant Eccles were twice playing the game with a man down during the second period. Eccles used this frustration as fuel and completed the afternoon’s scoring as Chayse touched down on the line following more strong forwards work. The angle proved a little too much and the kick drifted wide to make the score 26-7.

The rest of the game was a combination of penalties and errors with no side really threatening to add to the score line. With Eccles attacking down the left wing, some overzealous defending on Evan G that dumped him into touch without the ball, resulted in both sides coming together for one last chat before the referee brought the game to an end. 

FT 26-7.

Eccles finished their preliminary league schedule with only one loss, with the best scoring tally and the best points difference in thier division and will go into the Colts League cup competiton next weekend on the front foot, with the team gelling nicely as the playing group become more familiar with each other’s game, which is natural as they have only been together as a group for a matter of months.  There will be tougher tests coming up and the team need to understand how to manage their discipline better as Eccles can’t afford to have players down in games, regardless of provocation.

Next Sunday sees Eccles travel to Davenport in the first round on the NW Colts League Plate followed by the opening fixture of the Conference League on the 27th November which will then take us through to the end of the season.

Report AC.