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$Jamie Foster scored a try and five goals to take his season\'s tally to 42 points.$

St Helens Junior Academy 34 v 16 Warrington Junior Academy

By Graham Henthorne, Team Manager

It may seem a strange thing to say for a side that has conceded three tries, but this victory was built on an uncompromising defensive display, typified by a thundering hit from Dave Sutton which left his opposing centre searching the long grass for his missing ribs!

An uncharacteristic error from Phil Baines gave the Wolves a scrum on the Saints 20 culminating in a try from a last tackle cross kick.

From the restart driving forward play put the Saints deep into Wolves territory only for Ste Lucas to knock on over the line.

Jack Bradbury then had a try ruled out for Lee Gaskell’s forward pass before the lead was erased as Ste Lucas made up for his earlier error in spectacular fashion. The big prop charged onto the ball on half way bursting through and showing a clean pair of heels to the despairing chasers.

The visitors couldn’t handle the power of the Saints pack and big drives from Lucas again and his front row colleague Andy Yates set up the position for the ball to be spread along the line for Dave Sutton to squeeze in at the corner. A great touchline conversion from Jamie Foster made it 12 – 4.

Saints bombed two chances; Jonny Lomax knocked on when stretching for the line after Gaskell’s good work and then Sutton passed inside to the cover metres from the line, before they increased their lead.

A massive penalty kick to touch from Gaskell put the Saints 15 metres from the Wolves line. A quick tap and a trademark Lomax scamper to the sticks through a flagging defensive saw the scrum half score.

The Wolves scored their second try as a speculative kick on the last was left to each other by Baines and Waring allowing the winger to nip in for his second try of the night.

There was just time for Sutton to slip agonisingly into touch after the Saints were guilty of over complicating slightly.

The second half saw more of the same dominance from the home side after a sticky opening 10 minutes.

Good defence pinned the Wolves in their own 20 metre area before Jamie Foster scored in the corner after a great drive from the huge figure of Dave Lyon.

A textbook kick chase gained the Saints a repeat set. Lucas and Yates again set the field position for Tom Armstrong to side step his way around the tacklers to score.

Five minutes later and the terrible twosome of Lucas and Yates did the damage yet again. This time the ball went left and Jack Bradbury dummied his way over Foster’s fifth goal completed the scoring.

Karl Ashall, busy around the play the ball as usual, had a try mystifyingly disallowed for a double movement.

The Wolves scored a consolation try five minutes from the end due to some tired tackling.

Coach Derek Traynor was happy to see his troops involved in a “real match” after the exhibition fayre of the Harlequins game. With the props leading the way, Warren Thompson and Matty Ashurst linking with the flair of Jonny Lomax, this team is building into a formidable unit.

St Helens Junior Academy	Warrington Junior Academy
Phil Baines	Jordan Burke
Dave Sutton	Matt Lomax
Jamie Foster	James Mendelka
Jack Bradbury	Tom Rigby
Martin Waring	Lee Atherton
Lee Gaskell	Jamie Howard
Jonny Lomax	Gaz O’Brien
Andy Yates	Callum Casey
Karl Ashall	Joe Clarke
Steven Lucas	Josh Crowley
Warren Thompson	Pat O’Neill
Danny Langtree	Anthony Whelan
Matty Ashurst	Liam Hulme
Joe Molyneux	Greg Hamilton
Tom Armstrong	Olaweseyi Akanmu
Dave Lyon	Samir Tahraoui
Mike Welsby	James Laithwaite