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Warrington Wolves Reserve Team 26 v 33 St Helens Reserve Team

By Graham Henthorne, Team Manager

In total contrast to their last outing, the Reserves got off to a surprisingly sluggish start at Wilderspool and found themselves 6 – 0 down to the Wolves’ first attack.

On ten minutes the Saints left side defence was again found wanting as the Wolves extended their lead.

On bringing the ball out of their own half from the restart the Wolves squandered possession with some wayward passes. The ball was pounced on by Dean McGilvray, he weaved in and out before feeding Gary Wheeler to scoot in at the corner. Ste Tyrer’s conversion gave full value to the try.

Two converted penalties for borderline head high tackles pushed the lead into double figures again and the Saints contingent in the crowd was beginning to get slightly worried.

But the reintroduction of Sean Magennis, substituted early on due to a cut head, steadied the ship and the pack started to take allowing the game to be played in Wire territory.

Gary Wheeler’s chip through the line on the last just needed Paul Johnson to dive on it and his momentum would have carried him over. Instead he tried to kick it to the line only to see it disappear dead.

But the tide had definitely turned. The Reserves started to quicken up the play and this allowed Andrew Dixon to break the line. He took it to the fullback and fed Magennis on his inside who managed to hold off the cover to score under the black dot leaving Tyrer the easiest of kicks.

A soft try after a mistake in our own 20 extended the lead before the Reserves cut it back to two points on the stroke of half time. Dave Hull made 20 metres and a quick play the ball allowed Wheeler the space to put a pinpoint kick into the corner on the last. A majestic jump from Tyrer saw him pluck the ball from above the static opposition to fall over the line.

The second half started much as the first had and when Dean McGilvray flew out of the line but took no-one the Wolves scored in the corner. A dubious penalty for a grapple tackle pushed the lead out to eight points before they finally ran out of steam.

Big drives from Magennis and Gareth Frodsham gave the Saints field position. The ball was spread left then back inside to Wheeler and onto Tyrer before Hull finished the move off under the posts.

The Saints had the taste of victory now and the pack again drove downfield. Lee Cunliffe switched the attack from right to left and Wheeler put Magennis through a gap. He took it to the line and crashed over with three on his back.

Clinging to a slender two point lead the Saints continued to pound the Wolves. A big hit from Frodsham forced a knock on deep in the Wolves half. From the scrum the ball was worked left and Tyrer got low enough to force his way over from close range. Just when needed most his kicking deserted him keeping the Wolves in with a shout only a converted try behind.

But the Saints weren’t going to let this one slip and with four minutes to go a good set of six gave Wheeler the time to coolly slot over the drop goal that gave the Saints a bit of breathing space.

Frodsham and Dixon did the hard work down the middle, Wheeler showed some good touches but the star of this show was Sean Magennis whose time on the pitch coincided with the best that the Saints produced.

Match Summary:

Warrington Wolves 26

T: Duffy, Jerram, Mitchell, Thompson

G: Leatherbarrow (5)

St. Helens 33

T: Tyrer 2, Hull, Wheeler, Magennis, Dixon

G: Tyrer 4

DG: Wheeler

Teams:

Warrington:

Liam Duffy; Yaad Johal, Mathew Blyth, Anthony Jerram, Taylor Welch; Craig White, Scott Leatherbarrow; Adam Neal, Mike Johnson, Mike Cooper, Lee Mitchell, Danny Colquitt, Tyrone McCarthy.

Subs: Dave Saxon, Alex Thompson, Josh Cullen, James Simon.

St. Helens:

Dave Hull; Dean McGilvray, Steven Tyrer, Chris Dean, Adam Twamley; Gary Wheeler, Andrew Stott; Jake Emmitt, Lee Cunliffe, Gareth Frodsham, Paul Johnson, Sean Magennis, Andrew Dixon.

Subs: Danny Fairhurst, Paul Leyland, David Roughley, Dale Bloomfield.

FOR DETAILS OF THE RESERVE CHAMPIONSHIP, THE PLAYERS, TABLE AND THE LATEST STATS, CLICK HERE.