Trafford Triumph at Wigton

On a beautiful early spring day, Wigton produced their poorest home performance of the season to lose 20-29 to a Trafford side who finished the game with more determination, scoring their final try while they were reduced to 13 men. Wigton's defence was in a charitable mood. Wigton's attacking threat came from David Hanabury in broken play with the close quarter maul also showing promise. However Trafford's three quarter line ran with great purpose and their support runners worked hard to cover ground.

Ironically, given the way things developed, it was Wigton's pressing defence which first enabled them to take the early initiative, harrying Trafford into early mistakes and producing a lineout on the visitors' 22m line. As play developed, Fly half David Hanabury cut through the defence like a hot knife through butter to score the opening try which was converted by Ryan Clark for an early 7-0 lead.

Trafford had a chance to open their account but scrum half Pat Eccles' goal came back off the post. Shortly afterwards Wigton scrum half Dan Reed set up great field position with a well struck penalty. From subsequent play Trafford were caught off side, allowing Clark to extend the lead to 10-0.

It was not long before Trafford showed potency in their backs when from a lineout the ball was moved to outside centre Andrew Moore. He ran through a tackler and had a simple run to the line for an unconverted try.

Wigton tried to strike back through their pack. The sequence went lineout.....maul, drive, penalty......tap, maul, drive, penalty.........tap, maul, drive, ball held up....Trafford scrum. All of this happened in close vicinity to the Trafford line. However, the clearance kick was fielded by winger Kieran Miller, who made good progress. Prop Peter Dobson took the ball and attacked the right side of the ruck. Quick ball was switched back to the left where Wigton had the advantage of numbers, with Oliver Lewis, having started as flanker, but now playing in the centre, being the one to score. This gave Wigton a 15-5 lead.

In response Trafford put together several phases of play in which they were patient and retained the ball well. Eventually their patience paid off and the ball was passed wide to the left where the Wigton defence had lost its shape. After an initial line break, No 8 Danny Burke was on hand to take the scoring pass. Eccles added the conversion to narrow the score to 15-12.

Wigton were not slow to respond in what was becoming a real see-saw contest. Hanabury made the initial break drawing a penalty which Reed kicked to the 5metre line. The ball was caught and the drive went over the line, but Wigton were unable to get the ball down as the referee blew for halftime.

Wigton started the second half well with more lineout work seeing the ball driven to the line before No8 Stuart Creighton broke away to score. That made the score 20-12 and Wigton would have hoped to have settled down to a comfortable victory. Unfortunately Trafford had not read that particular script and Wigton defensively did not so much go to sleep as enter deep hibernation.

First of all Fly Half Stuart Crampton went straight through the middle of the park deep into the 22, finding centre Matt Coxon in support to take a scoring pass. Eccles could not convert but the score was now a close 20-17. Wigton had plenty of chances, drawing plenty of penalties. James Brought found a big hole in the defence and went roaring through. This resulted in Wigton being awarded a penalty thirty yards out. However, Clark was unable to take advantage and Trafford soon made Wigton pay.

The Greens were now putting Trafford's scrum under pressure, but they managed to scramble the ball away. Second row Andrew Burke took advantage of some poor tackling to gallop through the defence and scored a fine individual try. The conversion pushed Trafford into a 20-24 lead.

However, a yellow card soon afterwards handed the advantage to Wigton. A penalty kick pushed play right up to within five metres of the Trafford line. The ball was caught from the lineout but Trafford stood off and didn't compete resulting in Wigton giving away a penalty as they tried to set up a maul. This was an opportunity lost. However, Wigton were handed more of an advantage when Trafford received a second yellow card. It was now 13 against 15, but the 15 failed to produce the composure and accuracy of handling which would have enabled them to use their numerical superiority to good effect.

When Wigton had to defend they gave away a needless penalty at the breakdown thirty five yards out. Although the kick at goal missed, Trafford got the ball back from the subsequent drop out. Flanker Andrew Quigley picked up the ball at a ruck and ran straight through the middle of it in the place where defenders were meant to be. He surged into the 22 and offloaded from the tackle to Burke who scored the decisive try, giving Trafford a 20-29 lead.

With time running out, Wigton needed to hit back quickly but when the restart failed to go the required ten metres, that seemed to sum up Wigton's day. When the final whistle blew, Wigton were back in their 22. With three matches of the season left, Coach Lee will be hoping for better performances and return of a few familiar faces for the remaining games.