Wigton on top form

Coming into the game the league position and current form suggested the potential for a Wigton win and the large Wigton support were not to be disappointed as the young, ambitious Wigton squad set about maintaining their current run of form. Over 200 people watched the match, swelled by excellent sponsors HSBC who invited 50 - and the local ladies Hockey squad who were celebrating a 4 -1 win over Keswick earlier in the day.

Coach Mark Lee will be particularly pleased that despite having to make 5 changes to the squad which comprehensively beat De La Salle (including Captain David Hanabury and lead forwards Dobson, Corrigan and Henderson) there was a seamless integration of Mark Deans, Ryan Wannop and James Brough up front whilst promising three quarters Stephen Harris and Josh Leeson both did their cases for a regular shirt no harm at all.

Mark Deans in particular was keen to make an impression, he has operated mostly from the bench this campaign but on this form he will be difficult to leave out. He rolled back the years producing possibly one of his strongest displays in a green shirt - constantly breaking the Silloth defensive line with rampaging runs from deep and backing that up with an impressive defensive shift repelling Silloth ball carriers. He went on to score 4 tries and it was no surprise to anyone when he deservedly took the HSBC M O M award.

The foundation for the victory came from the dominant work of the Wigton developing 'farming' front row - Kevin Robinson (who was captain for the day in the absence of Hanabury), Alexander Johnston and Ryan Wannop completely dominated their opponents producing regular front foot possession on their own ball and destroying the Silloth 'front five' on a regular basis - securing 10 balls against the head. The line out went well too with jumpers Jamie Warwick and Andrew Brown securing regular ball.

Whilst the scrummaging was impressive, the forward purists would be purring at the quality of the Wigton driving mauls which was equally impressive. Silloth worked manfully to try and stem these efforts but in doing so by 'overloading' created acres of space for half backs Ledingham and Smith to exploit and release strike runners Moffatt, Clark and Harris on a regular basis. When centre Brad Bouch replaced injured Leeson he too looked effective and secured a brace of tries.

For Silloth this was very much a defensive shift with limited possession to work with and they endured a tough afternoon. In the forwards Captain Greg Wrathall stood out as player of potential as he never took a backward step, managing to disrupt mauls almost single handedly at times and completing a number of effective tackles. He was also their most effective ball carrier along with the strong running Kirkup in midfield who provided a constant challenge to the Green line. Half backs Rowley and Mumberson were well organised and tried to keep feeding their runners but against a dynamic and miserly defence few openings were created.

With such a surplus of possession, scores came regular - 9 tries, 8 conversions and 1 penalty.

Timeline:-

8 mins
Mark Deans first try benefiting from a dynamic driving maul which went 20 meters before a simple touchdown - plus a Smith conversion

9 mins
Straight from restart a 40 metre line break from Mark Deans saw Silloth penalised at the ruck and Gregg kicked a 40 metre penalty, 10 - 0.

28 mins
From a 5 metre scrummage Silloth managed to defend pick and go plays from Creighton, Johnston and Brown before Deans took control and blasted over from short range - again converted by Gregg 24 - 0.

32 mins
Try by Gregg Smith - converted by...Gregg Smith - after a driving maul had dragged in the Silloth defence and the ball was fed out to him to score under the posts from 20 meters.

35 mins
It was the turn of the backs to show their paces and a line break from Richard Moffatt gave Aron Henderson the opportunity to outrun the last defender and touchdown out wide. Again Smith was on target to add 2 points.

39 mins
Against a tiring defensive line Jamie Warwick (in his first season of Senior Rugby) underlined his potential with a storming run down the middle breaking 3 tackles. He was finally hauled down just short but offered a fine offload to Brad Bouch who cantered over. A Smith conversion confirmed the Green dominance as Ciaran Trainor blew to end the half it was - 38 - 0.

42 mins
Wigton were straight back on the attack and Gregg Smith broke away and timed a perfect pass to Winger Henderson who made it a brace of tries managing to get to the posts and give Gregg Smith the simplest of conversions - 45 - 0.

The next 20 mins was probably Silloth's best period of the match. Wigton's energy levels dropped off a little and Silloth seized the opportunity to put some phases together. The Wigton tacking got a little sloppy throughout this period too and an unnecessary high tackle gave Mumberson the chance to push Silloth up the line to a 5 metre line out. Wrathall secured line out ball and after series of drives close to the line prop forward Luke Baker went over in the corner with Mumberson effecting an excellent touchline conversion - 45 - 7 (55mins).

Substitute forwards Brough and Walker entered the fray replacing Johnston and Wannop and were keen to make an impression - the scrummage/ maul dominance continued. Two further tries followed on 65 and 70 minutes, both came from effective dynamic mauls as firstly Mark deans completed his hat trick of tries and then Brad Bouch got his brace with another cameo. Only one was converted by Ryan Clark and the score was 57 -7.

It was fitting that M O M Deans should close out the game. Following some impressive offloading he broke away yet again and ran to the posts unopposed Clark added a conversion and Mr Trainor, mindful of the failing light decided to err on the side of caution by blowing for almost full time.

FINAL SCORE 64 - 7.

With two fixtures to go before the Xmas break both squads will need to regroup with differing ambitions no doubt. No let upon on the pressure for Coach Mark Orchard - he will be hoping that the injuries from Saturday are not too serious and that his missing lead players will be back fit, taking on the league leaders at Warwick road will be another tough one.

In contrast coach Mark Lee will be looking forward to some healthy competition in training this week with no fewer than 8 lead players available next weekend to join Satruday's squad - Wigton will travel to the `Ellis sports ground' in good fettle.