SAINTS U19s couldn’t replicate the fabulous defensive display shown by the First Team on Friday evening and so slumped to a second successive defeat this time at the hands of the Wolves 24-12, writes Graham Henthorne, Team Manager.
It was a strangely lethargic Saints outfit in the first half and they weren’t helped by the heaviness of the pitch at Wilderspool.
Despite this the match remained scoreless for 29 minutes as both teams took it to each other. First the Saints would gain field position and put the hosts under pressure and then they would find themselves under equal pressure at the other end of the pitch.
Corey Lee came closest to opening the scoring for the Saints as he just couldn’t take Lewis Charnock’s floated long pass before it went into touch in the right corner. This came after James Tilley had made a half break through the line.
It was Connor Dwyer who broke the deadlock on the half hour as the Saints made the most of back to back penalties putting them on the attack inside the Wolves 30 metre area. Alex Clare, who worked hard all day, and Chris Webster were stopped short before Charnock again probed right passing it on to Dwyer who took two over the line with him. Charnock’s conversion gave full value to the try.
But all that hard work came to nought as Webster knocked on first tackle after the restart and, though trying valiantly, the Saints couldn’t keep the Wolves out.
From the kick off the Saints produced some good defence to force the error but couldn’t keep enough composure to exploit the defensive disarray. Dwyer and Webster were held short and Lewis Galbraith just lost fingertip control as he stretched out over the line.
A penalty on the whistle gave the Wolves the lead at the break and much food for thought in the Saints dressing room.
However, all the resolve dissolved on the first set after the kick off for the second period as poor marker defence allowed the Wolves to stroll through the gap and score under the posts.
The Saints pack led by Greg Richards and Luke Thompson started to exert their influence and Richards came so close to scoring as he was stopped literally inches short of the line.
Richards was again involved in the build up to the Saints second try being stopped short, but from the play the ball Dave Hewitt and Dan Abram put Galbraith into the corner. A great touchline conversion from Charnock put the Saints in with a shout only two points behind and with a quarter of the game to go.
Richards and Thompson combined down the right with a 40 metre break but there just wasn’t enough support to make it count.
Galbraith had a try disallowed to put the Saints ahead after Ben Parry was harshly adjudged to have obstructed a defender as he ran through the line.
But that was as good as it got as the home side continued to do the simple things better than the Saints, completing their sets and turning the Saints around.
Two tries in the final ten minutes gave the score a little inflated look but truthfully the Saints wouldn’t have deserved the victory.
Thompson, Clare, Richards and Charnock did well, there was a solid full debut in the unfamiliar position of full back for young Dan Abram and an impressive debut off the bench for Jack Ashworth, but little else shone.
Match Summary:
Warrington:
Tries: Jordan Burns, Ryan Maneely, Jimmy Rowlands 2.
Goals: Jimmy Rowlands 4.
Saints:
Tries: Lewis Galbraith, Connor Dwyer.
Goals: Lewis Charnock 2.
Half Time: 6-8
Full Time: 12-24
Teams:
Warrington:
32. James Saltonstall; 63. Jack Johnson, 43. Will Fairhurst, 40. Jordan Burns, 42. Jake Eccleston; 56. Jimmy Rowlands, 54. Declan Patton; 53. Daniel Murray, 51. Ryan Maneely, 55. Joe Philbin, 64. Jacque Peet, 68. Jonny Brown, 52. Will Milner.
Subs: 41. Joe Collins, 47. Robert Holroyd, 60. Sam Wilde, 61. Andy Ackers.
Saints:
1. Dan Abram; 2. Corey Lee, 4. Greg Wilde, 3. Lewis Galbraith, 5. Adam Saunders; 6. Lewis Charnock, 7. Dave Hewitt; 16. Adam Hesketh, 9. Dom Speakman, 10. Luke Thompson, 11. Alex Clare, 12. Connor Dwyer, 13. James Tilley.
Subs: 8. Greg Richards, 14. Tom Roughley, 15. Jack Ashworth, 17. Chris Webster.
