Eccles 52

Oswestry 12

Oswestry travelled to north Manchester at the weekend with a tough fixture against third-placed Eccles.

What was already expected to be a difficult afternoon was made even more difficult when the home side crossed the line to touch down minutes after the start of the game.

The try was converted, and Eccles were seven points ahead early on.

Moments later, full back Iwan Ellis made a try-saving tackle but in the process lifted the attacking player up and planted him which the referee deemed worthy of a yellow card.

While Ellis was absent from the game, the hosts were able to push forward and make the most of their one-man advantage, scoring three tries and converting one to make it 24-0.

Oswestry found themselves in the home side’s 22 after Ellis returned to the field, and they were able to score their first try of the day when some clever footwork from Noah Chunsi opened the Eccles’ defence and Nikola Nikolov was able to pick up the ball and run through to score the try.

Chunsi converted the try to make it 24-7.

Despite the visitors playing some nice rugby and managing to settle into the game, the home team came back once again and after working hard to make ground, they forced their way over the line for their fifth try of the afternoon. The try was converted again making the score 31-7.

Oswestry desperately tried to hold out to half-time but further unnecessary penalties and missed tackles by a number of players saw the local side score one further try before the break which was converted making the half time score 38-7.

Some changes and a stern half-time team talk seemed to send Oswestry out with more desire following the break and a good start saw them make a lot of ground.

They began forcing the north Manchester side into errors and were helped by a yellow card for one of the Eccles front row players.

Good pressure from the visiting players saw them travel up the pitch and make the most of the extra man by scoring their second try of the day.

Ellis made amends for his earlier yellow card and ran through to score – the conversion was missed and the score stood at 38-12.

However, Eccles were able score another shortly afterwards. Some good passing play resulted in a try and another conversion for the home team which put them 45-12 ahead.

A fatigued Oswestry side battled through until the final whistle, with Eccles scoring and converting once more to make the final score 52-12.

Oswestry are at home to Port Sunlight on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).

The second team was also in action on the weekend, and was narrowly beaten at home by Macclesfield 25-22.

Their next fixture is on Saturday, April 13 against Leek seconds.