Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud in Eccles

[b]Match report by Marcus Edwards[/b]

A good turn out of nine Manchester players, later ten, for the first match of the New Year was ‘pleasantly’ matched by ten players available for Eccles. The fixture would be started as nine- a-side played over two twenty minute halves.

The Manchester forwards were back to the usual line-up of Caitlin Knight, Jess Davids and Rachael Jones. In the absence of Ellie Davidson, Jess Johnson (Captain) stepped in at scrum half.

From the onset Manchester put Eccles under pressure with ‘rolling’ forward phase play interspersed with defensive line breaks from the backs, especially Olivia Farrow playing at fly-half. Eight minutes of sustained pressure resulted in an Eccles handling error virtually on the try-line. Michaela Gurney, playing centre, was first to the loose ball. Her quick reactions were rewarded as she crossed the line to score Manchester’s first try. Olivia stepped up for the conversion attempt which unluckily proved unsuccessful as the ball bounced off the crossbar!

At this point the fixture was expanded to ten-a-side following the late arrival of Manchester’s expected tenth player, Casey Thompson. For the rest of the match both teams would play with three forwards and a full complement of seven backs.

Eccles re-start kick turned out to be their only venture’ into Manchester’s territory for the whole of the first half of the match. Manchester quickly ran back the ball into opposition territory and resumed pressure on the Eccles defensive line. Manchester were completely dominant but were ‘plagued’ with handling errors in ‘contact situations’ allowing the Eccles fly-half to clear their lines by kicking out to touch.

The Eccles defence was finally breeched for the second time, in the last minute of the half, by Jess Johnson with a fine solo try. A five metre scrum allowed Jess a quick pick up and run down the blind side and to score a diving try despite the attention of three Eccles players.

The half time team talk focused on continuing the excellent team effort shown in the first half, cutting out the errors and putting more ‘points on the board’. It was also noted that Eccles had an excellent kicker who may be able to gain some territory by placing kicks over Manchester’s defensive line. To nullify this potential threat Manchester’s ‘go to’ versatility player Casey once more stepped up to play yet another new position as full back for the team.

As expected, Eccles used their long range kicker to start the second half with a ‘kick and chase’ punt. Unfortunately the handling errors continued for Manchester, allowing Eccles to play in the Manchester 22-yard area for the first few minutes. This was brought to a sudden end by Casey. In her new role as fullback, she burst through Manchester’s defensive line from the rear at speed and hard tackled the Eccles fly-half with perfect timing, preventing any continued Eccles forward momentum. The resulting loose ball was carried into Eccles territory and there Manchester remained for the remainder of the match, with the occasional attempted ‘kick and chase‘balls being picked up by either Casey, Helena Edwards or Chloe Barker in their roles as Manchester’s back three defence (Left and Right Wingers plus Full back).

The pattern of play in the second half mirrored the first half with Manchester in complete control. Disappointingly for Manchester, Eccles held firm and did not concede any more points.

During the second half it had been noticeable how much the game had slowed (Perhaps it was the result of too much turkey or too many mince pies?) and had become a ‘slog’ in the thick Eccles mud. The Manchester backs especially Olivia, Georgia Miskelly and Michaela were able to break through the Eccles defensive line almost at will but due to Manchester’s attacking naivety they were not able turn this huge advantage into any points. The pattern of play had condensed to a series of ‘one phase plays’ - whoever received the resulting pass back tried to run through the entire Eccles team with hardly any attempt to pass to supporting players before they were in the grip of a tackler!

With more competitive league fixtures coming up, Manchester will not have the luxury of over 95% territorial advantage and must convert ‘game line’ breaks into more points. As expected a ten-a-side game clearly suits Manchester style of rugby. Hopefully other league opponent’s squads will have similar numbers available for the remaining fixtures.

Special mention should go to Olivia who seemed to want to convert her playing kit into a New Zealand ‘All Blacks’ strip by applying as much of the Eccles mud onto herself as possible – hopefully post match pictures will justify your valiant efforts!

Overall an excellent team effort has been justly rewarded with a morale boosting winning start to the New Year. Well done girls.

CLICK HERE FOR MATCH PHOTOS BY ALEX FARROW