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Wigan Warriors Reserve Team 24 v 32 St Helens Reserve Team

By Graham Henthorne, Team Manager

One of the gutsiest displays of the season gave the Saints the win that allowed them to leapfrog nearest rivals Leeds and emulate their club colleagues.

Yes, this win means that all three Saints teams now top their respective League tables.

In contrast to Friday nights canter in the rain the Reserves showed their metal in twice coming from behind to win.

Just as the Academy side have suffered from players being unavailable due to the Great Britain tour so too did the Reserve side today with no fewer than four players making their Reserve team debuts.

However, it was one of these debutants who opened the scoring for the Saints. Tom Armstrong soared high above the out of favour first teamer Calderwood to pluck Kyle Eastmond’s perfectly judged cross kick from the air to score in the left corner in only the second minute.

The home side quickly hit back to go ahead when the pressure exerted by two repeat sets of six took its toll on the Saints defence.

The lead was extended mid way through the half as Calderwood picked up a loose ball to go 70 metres to score.

The home sides’ tails were well and truly up at this stage and the game could have quite easily have run away from the Saints, but the reintroduction of both Captain Sam Thompson and Lee Cunliffe gave the Saints a renewed vigour down the middle.

Kyle’s last tackle kick held up in the teeth of the gale and Tom Armstrong won the race to grab the ball only to be hauled down short.

Minutes later and punishing drives from debutant Andy Yates, showing no nerves in his first game at the higher grade, and Danny Cooper ended with Cooper held up over the line. From the play the ball Dean McGilvray found his path blocked only to weave his way through a static defence to score. Kyle added the extras and the Saints were back in it.

In true champions style the Saints played for the full 40 minutes and caught the Warriors napping just before the break.

Yates again made the hard yards, Kyle darted through the line but was held agonisingly short only for Lee Cunliffe to burrow his way over from the play the ball. Kyle’s conversion gave the Saints four point lead at the break and sent the home side in to the sheds arguing amongst themselves.

The Saints started the second half as they had finished the first. A break from Kurt Haggerty, one of many on the day, found Warren Thompson (another debutant) on his shoulder and took it on only to pass to the home side with the line begging.

Good defence from the Saints forced the error and from the scrum Yates and Paul Johnson drove deep into their half. From the play the ball Kyle showed all his guile as he jinked his way over from 20 metres out.

Then came a turning point. The home side were given a lifeline as Sam Thompson paid for his and others earlier indiscretions by being sin binned for repeated high tackling. The referee was left with no option with the howls of the home faithful baying for blood after being “robbed” on Friday night.

In his ten minutes off the lead changed hands with two converted tries putting the home side back in command.

Back came the Saints though as the forwards made inroads down the middle. From 20 metres out Kyle again took on the defence putting them on the back foot before feeding the charging Sam Thompson. He took it to the line and put a gem of a ball around the tacklers into the waiting arms of the supporting Eastmond to give the lead back to the Saints. Crucially he missed the simple conversion leaving the Saints clinging to a slender 2 point lead with 20 minutes to go.

Kyle was in his element right now and he again teamed up with Sam Thompson to make ground down the middle. On the last Eastmond’s chip to the right corner saw Armstrong again leap high only for the ball to slip from his fingertips.

The score stayed the same for the next 20 minutes as the Saints worked like demons to soak up the pressure of repeat sets in our own half. Fighting exhaustion the sheer will to win shone through and Kyle repeatedly turned the home side around with some booming kicks.

The Saints could sense a vulnerability in the home side and exploited it to the full with some inspired defence forcing errors. This, coupled with Kyle and Kurt’s intelligent kicking earned three repeat sets on the run. On the third of these the home side finally cracked and the game was won.

Big drives from Yates and Jake Emmitt got us to within 10 metres and from the play the ball Kyle again proved unstoppable as he jinked his way over for his hat-trick.

This was a fabulous team performance from 1 to 17. Andy Yates looked like he’d been playing at this level all year, Dave Sutton added some much needed pace and solidity from the bench and Warren Thompson did the same unheralded hard graft that all Academy aficionados will be familiar with.

Sam Thompson came back and showed exactly why he was promoted to the first team with a commanding performance. Jake Emmitt continues to excel wherever in the pack he plays and Cunliffe and Alex McClurg were always a thorn in the home team’s side.

But the jewel in the crown of this victory was a virtuoso performance of skill and tenacity from Kyle Eastmond.

There are four tough games, all away from home, ahead, but the Reserves have given themselves the luxury of controlling their own destiny from here on in.

Wigan Warriors Reserves	St Helens Reserves
Josh Veivers	Dean McGilvray
Mark Calderwood	Adam Twamley
Mike Priest	Dale Bloomfield
Sam Reay	Tom Armstrong
Nicki Stanton	Alex Asher
Joe Mellor	Kurt Haggerty
Sam Tomkins	Kyle Eastmond
Luke Rhoden	Sam Thompson
Stuart Howarth	Lee Cunliffe
Neil Holland	Dave Roughley
Andy Thornley	Paul Johnson
Chris Tuson	Warren Thompson
Ross Bradley	Jake Emmitt
Stefan Marsh	Alex McClurg
Chris Gerrard	Danny Cooper
John Walker	Dave Sutton
Sam Cunningham	Andy Yates