Under 14's well beaten by strong Eccles side

Bolton travelled to local rivals Eccles a team historically stronger than the Bolton team.
Pre match nerves weren’t helped by the team unable to access the changing rooms and lack of a referee. Bolton were not prepared mentally and long before the match even started there was negativity in the team.
These nerves were taken onto the field of play and Eccles immediately started the better team.
Within 5 minutes Eccles were in front with piercing runs from their centres through the Bolton defence creating overlaps at every opportunity which put their speedy wingers away down the flanks.
After two such tries unusually Bolton heads went down and lack of support at the breakdown saw Eccles forwards turning over the ball. The breakdown area is normally one of Bolton’s strongest parts of the game but not today.
There were several good passages of play from the away team but these weren’t consistent enough.
But for try saving tackles from Morgan Skeels-Caldwell, James Evans and Kier Kernick Eccles would have been well in front. Dan Southworth was playing his usual strong game at number 8 but wasn’t getting enough support from the rest of his team. Several penalties were awarded for Bolton with advantage played but the away side didn’t use the advantage well with support play. Tom Crook left the field of play after feeling unwell and Callum Smyth entered the fray and he was outstanding today, picking up the most contribution award.
After one short passage of Bolton play Dan Southworth collected the ball from a Bolton ruck and evaded several tackles scoring under the posts. Zak Grundy was able to convert the try.
At half time several changes were made, Eccles had scored at least 4 tries to Bolton’s one try.
Bolton started the second half well with their blitz defence closing down the big Eccles backs and it seemed they were clawing their way back into the game.
Silly mistakes again at the breakdown meant that Eccles were turning over the ball.
Bolton did have a try to cheer about in the second half when Ben Turner playing at 10 kicked ahead for Winger Kier Kernick to chase after he saw the Eccles winger out of position and Kier won the race to the line to score. Zak was unable to convert the try.
Eccles however had the final say in the second half with more tries to take the game out of Bolton’s reach however one was from an interception when unbeknown to the referee they had 16 players on the pitch and their final try came from a Bolton kick off but a forward pass was missed in the build up by the stand in referee who had a good game considering he was roped in at the last minute.
Eccles are a strong team with talent in every department and taught Bolton a lesson in rugby at the breakdown and support play. It is clear why they are in a league above Bolton, and the Bolton team will have learnt a lot from today’s defeat. They will put this game to one side and work hard on their faults.
Player of the match Morgan Skeels-Caldwell (pictured)
Best Tackler Morgan Skeels-Cladwell
Most Contribution Callum Smyth