1XV
Eccles 29-15 Wigan
Both teams came into this game in similar form (WLL) and extremely short of first team rugby experience on the field and knowing they needed to start collecting points, with Wigan sitting in 9th position (with a bonus point victory over deeply struggling Burnley RUFC) and Eccles in 10th position (with 4 points from the away win at Ormskirk on the opening weekend of the season) knowing they needed to improve on two key areas, a continuous 80 minute performance and individual energy which have been definitely lacking in the last 2 rounds.
The first half on the scoreboard was a tightly contested affair for large periods but anybody watching would tell you different, Eccles played manfully with the forwards setting a dominant platform at scrum time & with forward carries, individual mentions must go to Javi Manzanares & Gaz Conlon in the pack both were senior players in age on the day but with limited rugby experience between them, never mind first team rugby, but they led from the front. In the first 40 minutes as Gaz carried the ball aggressively forward over and over forcing multiple Wigan defenders to commit to bringing the Giant North Mancunian down & Javi’s impressive work rate meant nothing was easy for the travelling Wigan outfit.
With good forward dominance Captain James Wright steered the back line well from the 12 position always maintaining width in defence & attack but it was in the latter where Wigan really struggled. Numerous first lines of defence were broken by the Eccles back 3 seeing the Wigan men scramble with some great last minute defending, a big mention must go out to Shea Skillicorn at 13 in the blue & white hoops for the second game in a row bringing a fantastic balance of when to role his sleeves up and do the dirty stuff others don’t want to, and when to play with swag & flair to release his impressive back 3. Shea must have also felt robbed of a try himself in the first half, as a powerful run saw him clean through heading towards the post inside the opposition 22 when the referee pulled him back rewarding him a penalty as one of the Wigan men tried to take his head off! "Advantage Sir!" roared around the Gorton Street Ground!.
A scrum inside the Wigan 22 gave Eccles an attacking platform for the the ball to be shipped quickly through the backs to Gav to score the opening try, the kick hit the post, but within 6 minutes Eccles were reinforcing their lead with wonderful inter passing between fly half Alex Speakman and Fullback Will Parkinson, who weaved right through the middle to score under the sticks. A penalty from Alex was the last action of the first half, with Eccles going into the break ahead 15-10.
The Second Half saw the 3 man bench unloaded for Eccles, seizing the opportunity to punish a tiring Wigan by bringing on 3 #Homegrown 21 year olds from our impressive 2019 year. Fin Cox replaced Daniel Aspinall at Hooker, Reece Walker making his first appearance of the 2021/22 league campaign replaced Javi In the backrow and Adam Christey making his comeback from an ankle injury sustained in pre-season came on in the unfamiliar position of second row to replace Gaz Conlon.
The changes saw an immediate impact on the game, bringing a huge amount of energy and physicality in attack and defence but not channeling it in exactly the way DOR Sam Simpson had wanted. With a few messages passed from DOR to Captain this soon changed and Eccles continued with the attacking fluidity from the first Half seeing the Wigan defence now being stretched all over the place and without some individual errors and fantastic scramble defence by the visitors the scoreboard would have been flooded with points from the Eccles men.
One particular moment saw lock Zak Brooker link up with Hooker Fin Cox around their own 22, Zak tipping the ball on to a rampaging Fin who, while charging down field kept all his vision and skill sets about him and on arrival at the opponent's 10 metre line putting in a beautifully waited outside of the foot kick pass across field & into the sights of his flying wing Gavin Akers-Johnson, unfortunately Wigan’s young fullback swooped on the ball before our attack, finding himself knocked into touch giving Eccles an attacking line out on the opponents 22. Following a Wigan scrum on the halfway line, Eccles pressure at the resulting breakdown saw the ball rapidly turned over and passed out to the right wing, where Gav kicked it on, chased, scooped up and scored under the posts. On 60 minutes, expansive play across the pitch was again finished by Gav in the corner for his seocnd try of the game, converted from the touch line by Speakman’s boot.
The game ended 29-15 to Eccles and Wigan awarded Fullback William Parkinson MoM for his fantastic field positioning which in turn helped him return the ball extremely well on numerous occasions, younger but bigger & definitely more attractive brother Mathew just wants him to add 'listening to his support players' next week now to add icing to the cake.
Eccles achireved a near 80 minute performance but know they still have more gears to go through and the individual skill set in a game environment over this week's training must be strengthened if they want to keep progressing up the league table in the next few weeks.
The game ended 29-15 to Eccles and Wigan awarded Fullback William Parkinson MoM for his fantastic field positioning which in turn helped him return the ball extremely well on numerous occasions, younger but bigger & definitely more attractive brother Mathew just wants him to add 'listening to his support players' next week now to add icing to the cake.
Eccles achireved a near 80 minute performance but know they still have more gears to go through and the individual skill set in a game environment over this week's training must be strengthened if they want to keep progressing up the league table in the next few weeks.
