Wids campaign up and running
WIDNES secured their first victory of the new campaign after comfortably beating newcomers Eccles at Heath Road.
The performance wasn’t pretty, but given the number of changes in the side and their continued lack of match practice, the result was the most important thing and the Wids cannot have done any more than secure a maximum bonus point win.
They went into the game with a muchchanged side and there were debut appearances for both Ryan Stokes who started the game at prop, and Ryan Vickery who was on the bench.
During the opening half hour, the Wids struggled to shake off their rustiness in both attack and defence, and Eccles were able to exploit some weaknesses in their opponent’s defence as their youthful, run it from anywhere style of play, caused plenty of problems for the home team.
Indeed, it hardly came as a surprise, when on 16 minutes, elusive wing man Gavin Ackers-Johnson was on hand to snap up a desperate loose pass before racing 65 metres for a great try which was converted by James Wright.
From there, Eccles perhaps could and should have scored more points, but instead it was Widnes’ turn to launch an attack. After stretching the visitors defence firstly one way and then the other, it was left to Liam Lawton who cut inside to score a try which Kevin Leadbetter was able to convert and make it 7 – 7.
Widnes, though, continued to be in generous mood and too often invited Eccles back into the contest with some silly, selfinflicted errors which also included a player going into the sin-bin.
Fortunately, despite being a player down, they were able to keep their line intact for the full ten minutes, before replying with a dashing midfield break from Arnie Haydock which ended with wing man Gavin Hatton crossing for another converted score.
Despite the un-flattering nature of their lead, the red-and-blacks were able to see out the remainder of the half without any further mis-haps and go in at the break leading by 14pts – 7.
Holding just a narrow lead at half time, the team talk would have been all about maintaining composure and discipline if they were to go on and complete the job in hand.
An immediate knock on from the restart was soon followed by an Eccles player going into the ‘bin to warm his heels for ten minutes. Matty Lawton then lost the ball going over the line as he reached out to score. From the resultant scrum, however, the Wids pack steamrolled the visitors off the ball and Arnie Haydock was on hand to pick up and score another of his trademark tries.
At 19 – 7 down, it was Eccles turn to have to show some character if they were to regain a foothold again in this contest.
Instead, a bit of quick thinking from a tap penalty saw Kevin Leadbetter feed Josh Salter who crossed for a try wide out which made the score 24 – 7.
After that, another Eccles player went into the bin, and the Wids were able to make the visitors pay once again as Kevin Leadbetter handed on a neat short pass which sent prop forward Justin Winstanley through a big gap to score a bonus point try.
In the closing minutes, the Wids were able to introduce Ryan Vickery for his debut before Justin Winstanley was able to return the favour by putting fellow prop forward Matt Blakey over for the home sides fifth - and most popular - try of the afternoon.
There was still time for a late Eccles flurry as they looked to secure a late consolation effort, but the red-and-blacks defence remained strong to see out the final few minutes.
Will Patient was selected as the man of the match following another all-action performance.
Afterwards Head coach Andy McIntosh said “It was great to play our first home match after 18 months.
After an indifferent first half, we sorted our defence out and played some solid rugby to put a strong second half performance in and get a bonus point win.
Hopefully we can some continuity and string some matches together from now on. The two new lads on debut didn’t look out of place and played really well”.
+ The Seconds, meanwhile, also got their season up and running with a 56 – 17 win on the road at Littleborough, where two little pieces of history were made in the Wids front row.
66-year-old prop Clive Winstanley extended his lead as the club’s oldest ever forward, whilst hooker Adam Loughnane, at 38, became the youngest player to complete 30 consecutive seasons for the club. If the pandemic hadn’t intervened, he would have achieved this feat last year, having made his debut for the Under 9s against Mold in September 1991.
Apart from spells with Liverpool University and Lancashire Colts,
Loughnane is more or less a one-club man. Winstanley’s playing record is considerably less clear, having lost count of how many clubs he has guested for down the years. He is happily confident of adding to this unspecified number as the season progresses. ● THE Thirds meanwhile, are due to start their season on Saturday with a home game against Ormskirk in Division Four West of the Halbro Leagues.
● DESPITE the new season being in its infancy and the lengthy 18-month absence of all thing’s rugby, the Wids may well find themselves without a game this weekend.
Because of the vagaries of the fixture list there are no games scheduled to be played this weekend. The Wids though are trying hard to re-arrange their recently postponed home match with Burnley to help avoid any potential backlog later in the season should the winter turn out to be a bad one.
Further news regarding the game will be announced on the Club website.