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Eccleshall RUFC
Mon |
Date |
Opposition |
Result |
Report |
| Sept | 2 | - | ||
| 9 | WEDNESBURY A | W 34-5 | Eccleshall Under 17’s made an emphatic start to the new season with a convincing away win at Wednesbury. Eccleshall began to dominate in the early stages and showed great determination, vigorously chasing every ball and closing every Wednesbury effort down before it had started. When in possession Eccleshall looked confident running at Wednesbury, punching holes in their defence, and rucking and mauling efficiently to recycle the ball when needed. First half try’s came from Matt Dykes (9 mins), Chris Clare (13 Mins) and Tom Hemmings (20 Mins). Full Back Sam Ward Converted 1 of the try’s. Half Time Eccleshall 17 - 0 Wednesbury. The second half continued in much the same vain as the first and Eccleshall were able to extend their lead with try's from Sam Ward (45 Mins), and George Stanhope on (55Mins). Eccleshall were forced to play the last 20 minutes with 14 men due to injuries, but nevertheless extended the lead with a strongly run try from James Stewart on (67 mins). Sam Ward was able to convert the try for a further 2 points. Wednesbury managed a consolation try on (75 mins) with a strong run down their left breaking through the under strength Eccleshall Line. Full Time Eccleshall 34 - 5 Wednesbury. The match was a show case start to Eccleshall’s new season, with strong performances from all players. The team demonstrated competency in all aspects of the game, showing a maturity and a hunger to achieve that was more than a match for their opposition. The forthcoming season certainly looks promising based on this first outing. | |
| 16 | BURTON A | L 70-0 | What a difference a week makes. From the heady confident start against Wednesbury last week, an under strength squad travelled to Burton to play the first League match of the new season. With four players out injured already and others unavailable, Eccleshall were only able to start with 14 players. Nevertheless the Lads used their best endeavours to hold onto the game and managed to get through 24 minutes conceding only 2 try’s, but as legs started to tire and Burton’s confidence increased 3 more try’s were conceded before Half Time. Half Time Burton 31 v 0 Eccleshall. The second Half pretty much mirrored the first with Eccleshall managing to initially form a better resistance for a quarter of an hour before Burton accelerated away again finishing the half with a total of 6 tries of which 5 of which were converted. Final Score Burton 70 v 0 Eccleshall | |
| 23 | LICHFIELD | |||
| 30 | SHREWSBURY | L 8 -24 | Report by Tony Philips - Eccleshall lined up with a full team this week and even managed two substitutes. They'd played Shrewsbury last season so they knew what to expect. Shrewsbury are a team with fast well practiced backs but are unable to make any impression on Eccleshall's forwards. This mismatch made the game a cracker to watch.. Eccleshall pounced on Shrewsbury's moves and thwarted their play. Unfortunately Shrewsbury's attacking style eventually won through with two try's and conversions. Eccleshall countered when a Shrewsbury long pass was scooped out of the air by a high speed Cameron who caught the Shrewsbury defenders completely off guard and charged across the line. This was deftly converted by Nial Keating. There was no slackening of the pace for the remainder of the game. Shrewsbury repeatedly charged the Eccleshall defences, time and again being pushed back but as final whistle approached a misplaced Eccleshall pass followed by a bad tackle allowed a Shrewsbury back to get too close to the try line. Despite frantic efforts by Eccleshall to bring him down he got through. This was duly converted. Final score Eccleshall 8 Shrewsbury 24 (I think). After the past two bruising encounters this was nearly a win! | |
| Oct | 7 | WILLENHALL (LEAGUE) | L 64-0 | An under manned, under the weather, under pressure Eccleshall faced the heavy onslaught of Willenhall for the second time in as many weeks. The first encounter left a lasting impression, mainly stud marks. Willenhall are one of the few teams that can out push the Eccleshall forwards, unfortunately they also have a back that is so fast that he looks slightly blurred when he's standing still. Actually that might be my weak eyesight. Either way Eccleshall was not looking forward to this encounter. In fact only 14 sets of Eccleshall eyes peered apprehensively at the burly Willenhall line up. The play kicked off and several hundred kilo's of burly Willenhall gristle rumbled forward, but, and this is a big "but" Eccleshall started moving the ball around quite deftly. I know, you'll think that this is what your supposed to do but (there's that "but" again) Eccleshall have been without a dedicated coach this season so some of their set plays have been a little ragged. Not today, the ball inched its way up towards the Willenhall try line but (curse that word) Willenhall's defence was too strong and then there was that blurry back, he was all over the place! Last week was possibly Eccleshall's lowest ebb. They'd encountered Willenhall under cold grey misty weather. Eccleshall were again under manned but in comparison, the game had been so one sided that the spectators lost interest and were talking amongst themselves as Eccleshall fought against flagging moral. The referee eventually stopped the game at about 64 - 0. As the dejected Eccleshall side drooped off, Captain Niall tried to rouse some spirit "Who are we?" he shouted but got no response. This week they've introduced a Man Of the Match award. Eccleshall made a real go of it. As Willenhall were such a forward heavy side it seemed only fitting that the Man of the Match go to one of the Eccleshall forwards. He stifled many of the thundering Willenhall charges with solid tackles and just being in the right place at the right time. Willenhall won the game 24 - 0. Oliver Philips won the first Man of the Match award. Obviously I'm not at all biased what with him being my son, but (hurray for that word) is there any cash involved? This was still a rather bruising encounter in fact one Eccleshall player got slightly more bruised that he should have done, but then if he would pick on one of the biggest Willenhall players to demonstrate his displeasure in the scrum ..... Eccleshall are showing some real promise, still undermanned, still rather unpolished they are still determined. |
| 14 | WILLENHALL (CUP) | |||
| 21 | BURNTWOOD H | L | Eccleshall played Burntwood last season in a friendly, though the match was anything but. Burntwood are a side that use their backs as their main feature. It was obvious as they warmed up. The entire team formed up into two lines and flowed across the pitch flipping the ball between them, the flippee would then flit to the end of the flipper line until they were fit to flip again. Their entire team seemed to be trained as backs! Eccleshall preferred a less flashy warm up. The ref called the teams together ready to start. A quick blow of the whistle and they were off. Burntwood, as expected were quick off the mark and the ball was rapidly moved down the line. Eccleshall responded with a few well-placed tackles, won the ball and started their own style of forward heavy play. This had the effect of forcing Burntwood's forwards to respond. Eccleshall were getting the better of this. The ball, which had been heading rapidly into the Eccleshall half was stopped and forced back. Burntwood countered with some wide passes, Eccleshall were ready and headed off the wingers. So the play went back and forth up and down the field. The Eccleshall supporters were just that, very supportive. In fact I over heard one shouting to Dan Woodcock who was left lying near the 25 yard line after a particularly heavy tackle: "Awe Danny boy, do you want a hug?". He recovered miraculously. Meanwhile down at the Burntwood end the spectators were not quite as touchy feely. One chap seemed to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder with regard to the ref. Actually it was more like a giant redwood. He was snapping and snarling like a Tasmanian devil. When you got closer you could hear things like "Garghrrr Ref? Snasss Foul!", "Ref, (looks around in astinishment) you blind.!", "Ref xxxjkfd, you ..", "Ref, argh!! off side, Ref" ,"Ref, @*&%$ Ref, talk about biased, Ref". I may have misspelt some of the words he was saying. The "Ref" was actually scrupulously fair. In fact if anything Burntwood were getting the best deal. For about thirty minutes the game zigzagged up and down the pitch, neither side making any headway. But then a bad pass from Eccleshall was intercepted by a Burntwood player and they charged over the line. Burntwood converted. If Eccleshall had held their nerve they could have ground Burntwood down but their moral collapsed with the conversion. Eccleshall seemed to stop playing. Buoyed by their try, Burntwood managed another 2 try's and conversions before half time. The second half, Eccleshall were playing a damage limitation game. Burntwood sensed blood and were pressing home their advantage. The entire team were playing as backs. This actually kept the score down because the Eccleshall forwards kept overpowering the weaker Burntwood forwards (were they forward backs or back forwards?). As the score mounted Eccleshall held on. Burntwood pushed harder but despite the Tasmanian Ref devil, the final whistle blew. Eccleshall seemed to have forgotten they are quite a good side, if they could just hold their nerve. I didn't see the ref after the game, I wonder if the Tasmanian Ref Devil got him? The score Eccleshall - 0 Burntwood - 53. Man of the match - Tom Hemmings | |
| 28 | RUGELEY | Abandoned following an injury to a Rugeley player | ||
| Nov | 4 | HANDSWORTH A | D 13-13 | See match report |
| 11 | STAFFORD | L 25-0 | Stafford are a side that Eccleshall like to play, largely because they are quite evenly matched. A lot of the players know each other. Some are even related. This is a local derby and is taken very seriously. Stafford as a sporting town is not so strong on rugby. Many of the schools play football, autumn, winter and spring (mind you the school I went to played it in summer as well!). This produces rugby players that are fast and mobile but not so hot on carrying a ball at the same time. Yes, Eccleshall like playing Stafford! The game started with Stafford flying round the field in a rather erratic fashion with Eccleshall hard pressed to hold them. This was a very different Stafford side to that normally encountered. Eccleshall responded with an unstoppable maul that carried the ball so close to the try line that it looked inevitable but a desperate Stafford hurled nearly all their players at it and it eventually collapsed. The scrum marked a change of tactics for Stafford. They now reverted to football! Whenever a Stafford player got the ball they would kick it as far as they could into the Eccleshall half and then charge gleefully after it. Eccleshall fielded the ball and kicked it back. The ball was booted up and down the field like a muddy tennis match. Unfortunately Stafford was better at this aerial bombardment technique than Eccleshall and eventually a Stafford player snatched it from a loose ruck and tumbled over the line. Eccleshall re-grouped, reformed and replied. The ball stayed on the ground and ground it did, right through most of the Stafford front row and onwards, a good old fashioned Eccleshall flavoured maul, it was unstoppable; OK perhaps if it hadn't crunched up against a Stafford flanker (or perhaps I should say "the" Stafford flanker) who wasn't build like the rest of the flying squad, he stopped it (what a spoil sport) with a ground shaking leap into the mass of struggling players! The ball came out of the resulting scrum, was snatched by a Stafford player and, it inevitably headed skywards again. Maybe it was from neck ache caused by straining upwards but Eccleshall couldn't seem to pin Stafford down after that. Stafford went on to win with five try's. The only person who couldn't kick the ball very well was the Stafford kicker who failed to convert any of them (perhaps he suffered from air sickness?). Eccleshall looked by far the better side but you wouldn't know by looking at the score! Eccleshall - 0 Stafford - 25. Man of the match Tom Hemmings | |
| 18 | WOLVES A | L | Twelve cold wet shivering Eccleshall players lined up facing twelve equally cold wet shivering Wolverhampton players. A chilly northwest wind blasted freezing rain onto a waterlogged Wolverhampton pitch, strong enough to cause ripples over the frigid muddy puddles that dotted the field. Wolverhampton had kindly agreed to play twelve a side as Eccleshall could only muster 13 men. Not the sort of weather for the faint hearted. The spectators huddled together like Emperor penguins during an Antarctic winter. Eccleshall kicked off and squelched up the field well into the Wolverhampton half. Wolverhampton quailed under the initial onslaught but clung on, slowly forcing Eccleshall back into their own half. Eccleshall responded and forced the play back into the Wolverhampton half. For the first fifteen minutes Eccleshall dominated the attack unfortunately bad luck forced captain Niall Keating off the field with in injured arm. Eccleshall lost their momentum, some deft passing by Wolverhampton gave them the opportunity to break through the Eccleshall defences and across the line. This try burst Eccleshall's fragile confidence. By half time Eccleshall had lost Tim Jones to injury and were thirty points down. "Come on lads", "we're losing this because we're not playing as a team", Pete Taylor at half time had hit the nail on the head. He was half right. The thick cold gloopy mud illustrated Eccleshalls problem's really well. Wolverhampton were all evenly spattered with mud. They were a good solid team, nothing flash about them but they played as a single unit. Eccleshall on the other hand had a team of six players who were caked from head to foot in mud. The also had five keen willing players who were unfortunately all doing their own thing. Their mud spattered black kit still showed clean patches. The second half was miserable for everyone. The freezing rain hammered down harder than ever and vindictively started turning to sleet. Wolverhampton had warmed up, if you could call it that, and repelled repeated Eccleshall attacks. When they won the ball they passed it deftly around Eccleshall, into positions where their backs would break through. What was particularly annoying for us Emporer penguins huddled on the sides lines was seeing Eccleshall consistently winning the scrums, rucks and tackles but being unable to do anything with it. Eventually Wolverhampton's superior team work pushed the score up to the 70 mark. The ref blew the whistle. Twenty cold wet players squelched off the field. Wolverhampton played well a good polished side. The referee was absolutely excellent, keeping the play rolling in atrocious conditions in the most proficient and efficient way. And Eccleshall . they all deserve a medal, repeatedly battered they keep showing up fresh faced a hopeful the next week. They would be such a good side if they could harness all that enthusiasm into a single team. Man of the match - Oliver Philips | |
| 25 | RUGELEY | Rearranged from 28 Oct | ||
| Dec | 2 | NEWCASTLE | ||
| 9 | BURTON H | |||
| 16 | LICHFIELD A | |||
| 23 | WILLENHALL H | |||
| Jan | 6 | BURNTWOOD A | L | Not the best start to 2008 |
| 13 | HANDWORTH H | L | ||