WIGAN Scholarship U16s 42 v 4 St Helens Scholarship U16s
A strangely lethargic Saints were taught a lesson by their hosts at Wigan RUFC on Saturday.
Poor one-on-one tackling prevailed for most of the game and allowed the hosts to pull out to an 18 – 0 lead in even time.
But the Saints could and should have score twice. Firstly Josh Crehan knocked on with the line at his mercy after a home error and minutes later Scott Harrison also fumbled with a try begging after a neat scrum move again from a home error.
The second quarter of the game belonged to the Saints as they struggled to retrieve the deficit.
Spurred on by big Ross McCauley off the bench, a Dan Abram break was ended when the supporting Mathew Whitely was caught from behind.
McCauley announced his presence even further with a massive hit and the saints got on a bit of a roll.
Three times blind side moves started by Tom Davies and carried on by Dave Hewitt caught the home side unawares down the left side. Twice they almost brought tries only for the last pass to drift forward, but once it succeeded as Scott Harrison took Hewitt’s pass to score on the corner.
The second half was a different story as the home side scored a steady stream of tries against a dispirited Saints.
There were glimmers of the usual 16s as first McCauley and then Liam Knowles were held up over the line but that’s as good as it got.
Olly Davies and Robbie Hand had decent second halves, Abram and Hewitt tried hard behind a beaten pack but head and shoulders above everyone, quite literally in his case, was Ross McCauley for his efforts in a beaten team.
Match Summary:
Wigan Scholarship U16s:
Tries: Gabriel Fell 2, Sam Baggaley 2, Jake Shorrocks, Tyler Whittaker, Joe Bretherton.
Goals: Jake Shorrocks 5, Nick Gregson 2.
St Helens Scholarship U16s:
Tries: Scott Harrison.
Goals:
Half Time: 4-18
Full Time: 4-42
Teams:
Wigan:
1. Gabriel Fell; 2. Sam Baggaley, 3. Oliver Geldart, 4. Liam Forsythe, 5. Kieran Murphy; 6. Jake Shorrocks, 7. Tyler Whittaker; 8. Joe Bretherton, 9. Luke Waterworth, 10. Jordan Curtis, 11. Bradley Lawrence, 12. Connor Fairhurst, 13. Nick Gregson.
Subs: 14. Dave Rothwell, 15. Oliver Murray, 16. Nathan Seddon, 17. Nathan Sharratt, 18. Danny Dakin.
Saints:
1. Adam Saunders; 5. Liam Knowles, 3. Jordan Wakefield, 4. Will Weir, 2. Scott Harrison; 6. David Hewitt, 7. Dan Abram; 8. Tom Calland, 9. Josh Crehan, 10. Olly Davies, 11. Rob Hamon, 12. Matthew Whiteley, 13. Joe Ryan.
Subs: 14. Tom Davies, 15. Connor Smith, 16. Scott Oakes, 17. Robbie Hand, 18. Josh Swift, 19. Ross McCauley.
