A tough game for both sides in great slimy conditions in Manchester

Eccles 6 Kendal 14
Just before the start of play, Jack Lashley was told to report to his barracks at Preston. He was told there was an emergency at an airport, and he was ordered to his barracks at Preston. So he was replaced by Duncan Green, recovering from an injury a few weeks ago. Jack had to leave immediately.
Zane Butler also had not quite recovered from a damaged knee, so he was replaced by Mark Carruthers on the right wing.

The conditions were wet with steady rain all morning, and the main pitch was narrow by more than two metres. After three minutes' play, Eccles opened the scoring with a simple penalty by their fly half, George Oakey, 3-0.
As expected, after a late arrival at the ground, Kendal were expected a tough defensive outfit, so moved up quickly in defence and hit the defence really hard. After only seven minutes, Matty Houghton did just this in the centre of the pitch. He hit hit one of the centres really hard from 40 metres. The ball cannoned off his opponent and shot through the gap. Without hesitation, Matty was after the ball and shot for the line. He timed his run perfectly and was over the line first - a great try and an excellent start, converted by Nathan Wooff. 3 -7.
The referee was a guest ref from the Midlands, and he was a stickler for penalties, especially in the line outs, loose rucks scrums. Players on both sides were penalised, particularly Phil Murphy and Duncan Green from Kendal, as well some of the home side.
About fifteen minutes before the break came the breaking point. Kendal moved up the right touchline with some good kicking. There was an excellent scrum, and James Gough cut through the blindside and hared for the line in typical style. He touched down first, and Nathan Wooff kicked a fine conversion from the touchline: 3 - 14, and well in command, or so we thought.
Eccles immediately came back and hammered the black & amber line. Phil Murphy was determined to set a fine defence, but he was warned for coming through and yellow carded by the ref, George Richardson. With a man short, came the most important part of the game. Eccles lay siege on Kendal on numerous occasions. Eventually the line broke & they cut through, but the black and line broke, but Kendal stole their ball and broke away. Great defence with a man short!
At half time, you could see our Head of Rugby full of enthusiasm for the tackling shown. As Phil Murphy's ten minutes were almost complete, they could see the light at the end of the tunnel, the only problem was the penalty count. In the first half it was 8-1 against the Cumbrians. This referee was a disciplinarian on tackling round the rucks. Matters did improve in the second half, but also did the Kendal tackling. Eccles hammered even more but our tackling was supposed once more, especially in the backs as our backs in particular tackled really well. The only way to improve seemed to be long diagonal kicks on this narrow pitch, which the local lads seemed to like in the wet conditions. Not another try was scored in forty minutes, just a second penalty goal to the home side! A good win to the black and ambers, but no bonus point to us, as Eccles proved against Penrith a few weeks ago.
We just need to improve our support of the line out jumpers, especially at the back of the line.

Don't forget, Wilmslow are now zooming up the league, and scoring a lot of tries.
Better handling would help, especially on wet days. Roll on next week!
James Thompson got his chance in the second half, as did Chris Park, but more please!

Steve Whitehead, our Director of Rugby, said this morning "Given the conditions yesterday, and the strengths of Eccles of their front five, the defence of our whole side in the second half was immense, particularly on our own line."

"To go against a strong pack for eighty minutes without a single try scored against us was an immense feat."
"It was a little disappointing not to score a bonus point for four tries, but even so, our defence was first class."

"We have some more tough games in the next few weeks, before the Christmas break, so roll on the next tight game."