Eccles RFC

Eccles welcomed Heaton Moor looking to back up last week’s impressive victory against Sale in what looked on paper to be an evenly matched contest.

Sam D started proceedings with a searching kick allowing Jack L to unleash a punishing tackle to set the tone for the rest of the match where defences were on top and it was Eccles who attacked first after Heaton Moor had knocked and following some some excellent defensive work by Max putting his body on the line, resulting in assessment by Dr Dave on the side-lines.

From the scrum, Eccles moved the ball wide, across the line and an opening was created after Lucas found half a yard of space and fed Matt G who made further inroads and offloaded to Blake but the attack petered out when the ball spilled loose, giving Heaton Moor the chance to counter attack, finding space on the flank but the Eccles cover defence swept up the threat immediately and forced the knock on. Eccles retained possession but only for a short period as the visitor's defence held firm and turned the ball over.  Heaton Moor were enjoying the best of the territory now and Eccles found themselves unable to break out and restrained into their own half. Following a scrum, an attempted clearing kick by Leighton was well charged down and only some quick thinking by Lucas stopped a certain try when he raced to dive on the loose ball and won the scrum penalty on the 5m line.

Eccles had the put in but the ball went straight out the other side and Jack C had to pick and go down the blind side only to be met with a wall of bodies which forced him into touch. With 10 minutes played, the visitors set their line out for a driving maul and opened the scoring when they crashed over and added the conversion to make it 0- 7.

Eccles regained the ball from the restart when more pressure from Jack L forced the knock on and Eccles set themselves a good attacking platform, only for some slack handling to gift the ball back almost immediately. This pattern continued along with penalties exchanged for the next few minutes.  Eccles continued to attack in the backs through Matt G , Leighton and Lucas seeing a lot of the ball which almost resulted in a try when the ball was moved out via Sam to the returning Scott on the wing who cut inside finding Matt H in support although the ball was lost again in the next phase, stripped at the breakdown, letting Heaton Moor off the hook.

Eccles were putting sustained pressure on the visitor's line with Sam D joining the attack at every opportunity and good backs’ passing found Scott again but some scrambling Heaton Moor defence forced him into touch 10 meters out. Heaton Moor lost the ball from their line out and had to drop out from their own line which Lucas pouched expertly and a penalty to Eccles gave the opportunity to start another attack but more poor ball retention from the line out meant the home side remained scoreless.

Eccles forwards were dominating the visitor's pack with Cael marshalling the troops well and ensuring that he retained the ball in contact to set up another attack with the visitors penalised for a high tackle whilst Jack C was a constant threat with his punishing runs. Eccles best chance to score just before half time came when Jack C won a penalty and Joe went to take a quick tap and Matt H charged through with the visitors on the ropes, but the play was paused for a Heaton Moor player to receive treatment for a head injury and with momentum lost, Eccles went into the half time break behind 0-7. 

Heaton Moor kicked off the second half, Cael took the ball cleanly and replacements Abraham and Josh were quickly involved in the action taking the ball forward, but another another dropped pass from the ruck by Eccles gave Heaton Moor possession on the Eccles 20 metre line. When the ball was moved out from the scrum Evan read the game perfectly to nullify the threat even when the visitors had the overlap and with the assistance of James the attack was eventually forced into touch. 

From the Eccles line out Leighton’s clearing kick forced Heaton Moor to chase and when Fin put pressure on the receiver, Lucas attempted to kick through the loose ball up field and only a heavy touch prevented a potential try. Eccles were in the ascendency now and soon had Moor pinned to their goal line. With 5 minutes of the half played, James thought he had scored only to be held up forcing Heaton Moor into another goal line drop out to Jack C who returned the ball with interest and won the penalty. The resulting line out however came to nothing as a poor pass fell short of the Eccles attacking line once again giving Heaton Moor the ball back.

Moor made a brief visit into Eccles territory, but Matt H stripped the ball in contact, Cael again set the ball back perfectly from his drive and a lovely offload by Abraham to Jack L who set free James for another strong run creating some space on the left wing for Finn who took the opportunity to challenge his opposite number and skipped round him with good support from Matt G, Josh and Chayse making good yards down the middle and when another high tackle was penalised Eccles looked likely to score but more loose handling turned the ball over to Heaton Moor.

The visitors attempted attacks up their flanks but these efforts were dealt with by Lucas’s dependable tackling, who threatened himself to break the line again whilst Jack L, Leighton and Matt G were beginning to get the upper hand in the centre with more last ditch tackling by Heaton Moor keeping them in front.

Eccles finally got on the scoreboard, with 4 minutes remaining, when Eccles won a scrum 20m inside the Heaton Moor half. Leighton spotted the full back was out of position and under threat of a tackle put a pinpoint kick through and Lucas outpaced the entire Heaton Moor backline and managed to dive full length to ground the ball inches from the back line of the pitch meaning the pressure was on Jack L to level the scores with what was by no means an easy kick from the right of the posts.  Jack kept his composure to slot the extra 2 points over to level the scores at 7-7 with just under 3 minutes left.

James took the restart and Abraham made good yards to offload to Jack L but Eccles let Heaton Moor back in the game by dropping the ball. To their credit, both teams were looking for the victory and, ignoring the opportunity to kick for touch, continued to battle on for the win.

In what was the last play of the game, Eccles won the ball from their scrum and Leighton again opted to kick high and deep to the fullback. Heaton Moor returned the ball up to the halfway line but the pass back from the ruck saw the ball bounce loose through the legs of a player and Matt H pounced to kick the ball through the defence, towards the try line and was winning the foot race when the cover defence impeded him, when he was sure to score, giving the referee no option but to reward the penalty try and make the final score 14-7 to Eccles.

Both sides should be commended on what was a thrilling spectacle for everyone in attendance. Eccles showed great spirit and grit to grind out a win when lesser sides would have folded, this victory should give every player the confidence to realise they can go as far as they want in this competition. 

Awaiting match report.

Awaiting match report.

Well what an amazing game of rugby from the u12s. A very physical and close game in the end. A few of the boys got some knocks but the team kept going. Exceptional trys from Finn, George and Edward. Defensively the boys dug in. Owen was fantastic in the ruck and off loading. He also managed a few rips that they had practiced in training.  Some good hard tackles from Kenzie, Jamie, Harrison and Billy. Billy took a big hit near the end of the game and unfortunately had to come off.  Like Danny said at the end of the game, a good team performance. Getting better every week!

Report Kristen Hughes (Owen's mum)

Awaiting match report.

Awaiting match report.