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Almost total domination up front by the big Eccles pack laid the foundations for this convincing win. They dominated the Ruskin eight to such an extent, that the visitors rarely gained a footing in the Eccles half. Ruskin, however, surprisingly took the lead in the twelfth minute when O'Keeffe broke clear deep inside his own half and fed Martin Birch whose pace took him under the posts. Smith converted. Had Martin Swift realised Birch was on his outside a few minutes later, when he barnstormed out of defence, another try may well have been scored, but the chance went begging, and for the rest of the half, Eccles laid siege to the visitors line.
Big Dave Faulkner, at centre, was a constant thorn in the visitors side, and following one of his runs, Simon Percy went in under the posts. Ince converted. A similar move a few minutes later, almost brought a try to Greenhalgh, but sheer weight of tacklers held him up over the line. So for all their superiority, Eccles found themselves level at the interval.
The second half brought little relief for the visitors, as the home pack stepped up a gear, and began to win an almost continuous supply of ball from line-out, scrum, ruck & maul. It came as no surprise, when after yet another charge theough the middle by Faulkner, Adam Taher was on hand to take the pass for the easiest of tries. This was followed by a Martin Ogden score, when he sold the cheekiest of dummies, to cross under the posts. Ince converted both tries, and also landed a late penalty to seal an emphatic victory. Ruskin might have narrowed the gap in the closing minutes, when Birch crossed the line, but was brought back for a forward pass. All in all, this was definitely not their day.
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