A table topping clash saw second placed Ashton visit league leaders Eccles 4’s, the reverse fixture was a tight affair with The Masher’s winning by one point, featuring tries from James Bower, Edwin and Charlie McCallum. Ashton welcomed Elliott Roebuck to the fold for his senior debut alongside former Ashton juniors Tom Broodbank and Louis Worthington, seeing a combined 5 players from the same colts team take the to field together, a special moment for all involved.

Ashton started slow, multiple handling errors and poor defence saw the home side take a 3-0 lead, however a strong reaction from the whole team with ball in hand controlled
by stand in fly half George Guerin and scrum half Nicky Corbett kept everyone calm. This allowed brilliance from Raoul and Khattab who combined with an excellent shift from the whole pack to not allow the home side to play rugby. Edwin and Farquhar hit everything in sight and strong running from returnee Titch saw Ashton take the lead into the half.

As Eccles tired in the second half points flooded in, Tom Parker and Sam Lambert returning from injury played smart forward rugby to see Ashton canter to victory. A real squad performance with everyone man putting in a shift to make sure we were not second in any area of the pitch. Bailey Corbett also registered much deserved first points on the board from the tee for all of his hard work since coming to the fold.

Best of luck to Eccles for the rest of the season, we look forward to potential fixtures against them down the line, both games this season have been competitive and a credit to both sides.