The One Where Rosie Met Jim

Stockport travelled to Eccles in the first of 4 away games in the month of April that sees the end of a long hard fought season, made increasingly difficult by Eccles being 2nd in the table and desperate to avenge the earlier drubbing at Headlands Road. With such a physical season taking its toll, the 3's gave a seasonal debut to No.8 Will Hurstwood and also saw Dan Duggan selected on the wing with Myles Mason in at full back whilst Isaac Wall made his first start at inside centre.

The game was to be played in an horrendous wind courtesy of Storm Kathleen and refereed by the lovely Rosie who soon met captain Jim, albeit on a rugby field and not storytelling on a narrow boat!!! Stockport were playing into the wind and receiving the kick off in a game where an away victory would see the 3's confirmed as league champions with 3 games still to play. Eccles clearly had other views on this and its fair to say that their initial game plan was to attempt to use their much larger pack to makes in-roads into the Stockport defence however having only conceded 126 points across 16 games with an average of 7.8 per game, the Stockport defence stood firm. With kicking already a lottery, Stockport turned down several options to try and make ground by running the ball from their own half and it was from this onslaught the first points were recording by the meteorological marvel that is fly half Rick Morgan who slotted over a penalty to take a very tight 3-0 lead. An early change saw Colt Eddie Thorogood on at 9 with Keith 'Grandad' Warhurst moving at 12, to then be abused by a much younger Eccles spectator who clearly wanted them to target the old man.................which he could have done had he actually been on the field instead of screaming at his own side!!! The wind was now making playing any kind of rugby almost an impossibility and with Eccles deciding to try and pin Stockport back with the aid of the wind, it was left to Mason at full back who seemed to be making this game look simple as though he had the ball on a string with a series of high catches, deft touches and raking kicks to return the ball in kind. The home side eventually made a break and despite the weather managed to link up a series of passes which saw them score the first try of the game and take a narrow 5-3 lead. With the game being played mainly in the Stockport half, it was left to the visitors to batten down the hatches and get through the half time unscathed with a series of punishing carries from Hurstwood and Chris 'Doggy' Dodd, ably assisted by props Jack Booth and Joe Rushton which took them into half time 5-3 down.

The chat from skipper Finnigan was about who wanted it more, and who wanted to play more like a team. The response was almost immediate as the second half started with the introduction of Henry Carolan into the back row replacing Nathan Jackson as well as Wall returning at No. 8 replacing Rushton with Hurstwood moving to prop. With Morgan now able to use the wind to his advantage, it was the turn of Eccles to be pinned into their own half and with the pressure building up, it was seemingly only a matter of time before there was a further score which this time went to Stockport courtesy of Wall who forced his way over in the corner given them a 8-5 lead. Eccles were soon reduced to 14 men however the wind again made it difficult to force the numerical advantage although Morgan was able to kick a penalty goal from near the half way line to push the lead out to 11-5, much to the dismay of certain Stockport players (why we going for goal, its not a test match you know)?? The bench was now being emptied seeing Olly Hancock on at hooker replacing the stricken Finnigan whilst Colt Dan Spencer came on into the back row for Ben Unwin and veteran Graham Rushton replaced Tom Mounkley in the engine room and it was Rushton who led from the front in the defensive effort with a series of punishing hits however a break from Eccles saw them dangerously close to the Stockport line and despite a heroic defensive effort, they eventually crashed over to bring themselves to within a point with the conversion to come however this was missed leaving a very tense final few minutes. From nowhere, a steal from Booth who looked like he'd come directly from the Battle of the Somme saw him gallivanting off downfield only to be caught by the Eccles full back however it released more pressure and eventually led to another penalty goal opportunity for Rick 'Michael Fish' Morgan to again master the elements and increase the lead to 4 points. With the game now dying down, Stockport remained resolute with their defence and this forced a penalty which left Morgan to kick the ball out and secure not only the the win but the League winners status.

A very physically demanding game in the face of some very punishing carries from the Eccles team. The weather played its part for both sides and in essence spoilt what would have been a much better game however with Stockport seeming to master the conditions better, to the victor goes the spoils.

Skipper Finnigan decided there was going to be no DOTD which came as a relief to Olly Hancock who was seen masquerading around post-showers in some form of towelled all-in-one oodies type thing!!!!!!

There were not one but 2 MOTM awards (clearly cos it can't just be a back on his own) so step forward full back Myles Mason for being as reliable as a German penalty taker and Chris Dodd who saved his best game for when Rouban wasn't there and when he was outplayed by a back.