Powerful Eccles starve Moor of possession to register emphatic win.

Moor travelled the short distance to newly promoted Eccles on Saturday and suffered their fourth reverse of the season and also their largest points-difference defeat.

Moor kicked off and immediately the home side took the initiative with lively runs by their back row and three-quarter line. It was Moor who had the opportunity to take the lead however, but two penalty kicks in the first 15 minutes were missed, one bouncing off the crossbar. Inevitably, Eccles did take the lead as they constantly had Moor under pressure in the first period and seemed to have far more of an appetite for the game; they made no mistake with the two penalties that they elected to kick and looked to have a comfortable 6-point lead come the interval. Fortune was to smile on Moor though as, in the last minute of normal time as Eccles continued to press, winger Ivan Smetana intercepted a pass just inside the opposition’s half and easily out-sprinted the cover to score a try just wide of the posts. Moor should have gone in at half time with the narrowest of leads, albeit fortunate, but the simple conversion was missed.

The half-time team-talk by Moor’s player-coach Keith Young, sidelined for this game with an injury, did not appear to initially have much effect as the home side scored two tries, one converted, within 10 minutes of the resumption. The first came from a catch and drive by the Eccles forwards following a line-out on the Moor 5-metre line and the second from another line-out on halfway, when Moor allowed the ever-lively Eccles scrum-half to get away up the blind side and when stopped, support in the shape of one of their lock forwards was on hand to take the pass and have just enough momentum to stretch out to reach the line when tackled. Although there was now a 13-point deficit, there was still plenty of time to rescue the game, a situation not unknown to Moor over the last couple of seasons and they did begin to take control of possession and position, with the loose play of their forwards constantly taking the game into the opposition’s half; their tight play continued to be below par however, as set-scrums were continually disrupted and line-outs were a lottery. Nonetheless, with ample ball being supplied to the three-quarter line from rucks and mauls, it appeared that it would only be a matter of time before Moor began to reduce the deficit, but excellent defensive work by the home side and a tendency by the Moor backs to squander this ball by kicking away possession, too much lateral running and slow delivery, meant that they only had a single penalty to show for their efforts as the game progressed. With time running out their fate was sealed shortly before the end when the Eccles scrum-half again broke away and fed one of his back-row players who galloped in unopposed to score a converted try under the posts and earn a well-deserved 25-8 victory.