SAINTS produced one of their most accomplished performances to totally dominate the Wildcats 42-4 on their home soil, writes Graham Henthorne.
The only disappointing aspect of the evening was that in attack the Saints squandered numerous chances to post an even more impressive win.
Defensively the Saints showed a hunger to get off their line and close down the home side which really impressed Coach Derek Traynor. In the first period the Saints repeatedly confined the Wildcats to their own half and only on two or three occasions found themselves carrying the ball away from their own line, usually as a result of a penalty.
The Saints opened their account with their first taste of possession. The Wildcats kicked out on the full allowing the Saints to start the set deep in the opposition half. Big drives from Ross McCauley, who punished the home side all night, and his Captain Joe Ryan put the Saints on the front foot. From the play the ball Danny Richardson ran at the line dummying his way over to the right of the uprights.
Five minutes later and the lead was doubled as Liam Cooper and McCauley again drove the home defence back. On the next tackle Morgan Knowles broke the Wildcats defensive line. He fed the ball out to Dave Hewitt who found Richardson on his inside to go under the sticks.
Despite their almost total dominance the Saints found it hard to increase their lead. Aaron Smith got over the line only to drop the ball and Regan Grace could have had a hat-trick but for some heroic last ditch tackling for the increasingly beleaguered home side.
It took until five minutes from the break for the Saints to score again and what a beauty it was. Jake Spedding, coming in off his wing, broke through. He went 30 metres, passed the ball onto Lewis Hatton who in turn took the ball to the full back before feeding the supporting Richardson for his third try of the half. Dave Hewitt’s third goal effectively took the game away from the home side before the interval.
In a mirror image of the first half, the Saints couldn’t field the kick off and the Wildcats scored in the corner from the resultant scrum.
But the Saints regrouped and closed shop again restricting the home side to sporadic forays into Saints territory.
Then came a special moment as Matty Lees scored his first in the red vee and what a great try it was, as he came steaming onto a wonderful Josh Eaves pass to rocket over the line from 20 out.
Spedding got his name on the scoresheet next reaching over to score from Calvin Wellington inside ball after a splendid pass from Ricky Bailey.
From the kick off the Saints scored the tray of the game. Knowles’ half break saw him get the ball out to Olly Davies who in turn put Spedding away down the left. He outpaced the cover but in trying to pass inside to Grace the ball was picked up off the floor by Smith for the try.
The final try was scored by out wide by Bailey but fittingly after another set of drives from McCauley and Ryan which terrorised the defence under the posts.
Although with ball in hand the Saints have played better, all in all this was a great way for the side to warm up for the big derby battle against the Auld Enemy at Langtree next Saturday.
Match Summary:
Wakefield U19s:
Tries: Kyle Ratchford.
Saints U19s:
Tries: Ricky Bailey, Jake Spedding, Danny Richardson 3, Aaron Smith, Matty Lees.
Goals: Dave Hewitt 7.
Half Time: 18-0
Full Time: 42-4
Teams:
Wakefield:
1. Max Jowitt; 2. Dec Brererton, 3. Judah Mezzive, 4. George Lord, 5. Kyle Ratchford; 6. Tom McGretton, 7. Christian Ackroyd; 8. Aaron Gledhill, 9. Ben Cornell, 10. Jack Teamby, 11. Harry Swan, 12. Sean Wooffitt, 13. Kieran Holt.
Subs: 14. Sam Blake, 15. Fraser Morris, 16. Liam Senior, 17. Martin Reilly.
Saints:
18. Ricky Bailey; 2. Jake Spedding, 19. Matty Fleming, 4. Calvin Wellington, 5. Regan Grace; 6. Danny Richardson, 7. Dave Hewitt; 8. Ross McCauley, 9. Aaron Smith, 10. Joe Ryan, 11. Olly Davies, 12. Liam Cooper, 13. Morgan Knowles.
Subs: 14. Josh Eaves, 15. Chris Worrall, 16. Lewis Hatton, 17. Matty Lees.
