Oldham edged out by Greens

Wigton edged out visitors Oldham to take four points from a scrappy, undistinguished game at Lowmoor Road. Neither side was able to build a great deal of fluency in a match punctuated by errors and penalties. Wigton owed a lot to full back Ryan Clark who had a 100% kicking record landing five penalties and a conversion. The coaching team will have been pleased with a number of encouraging performances from scrum half Sam Harrison and fly half Dan Reed who gave Wigton’s kicking game rather more purpose. Wigton’s man of the match was centre Oliver Lewis who is showing encouraging signs of learning the ropes in his new position.

The first half contained little memorable rugby as attacks were often ended by knock ons, wayward passes and various other errors. Wigton at least earned their penalties with some good phases of play. The half time lead saw Wigton in a 12-3 lead with four penalties from Clark as opposed to one by his opposite number Alec Jobson.

Jobson had a chance to narrow the lead following a good break by scrum half Will Mellor, but he was only able to hit the post from fairly close range. At this stage both sides were showing a reluctance to cross the tryline. Wigton were starting to exert some pressure on the Oldham scrum but the visitors were the first to register a try when centre Josh Watson took advantage of some token defence to score. Jobson’s conversion made it a tight game at 12-10.

Oldham tried to take advantage of momentum going their way, but some loose handling enabled centre Richard Moffatt to intercept and take play deep into the Oldham half. Whilst the game continued to be disjointed, Wigton drew a penalty as Oldham’s hooker Jamie Edwards was shown a yellow card for a high tackle. Clark was unerring from just over thirty yards to give Wigton a 15-10 lead.

Wigton were soon on the attack again and moved the ball wide on the right hand side. Moffat produced some good approach work but it was his fellow centre Lewis who produced some nifty footwork to evade defenders and make a line break. As he was tackled he offloaded to flanker John Story in support who scored. Clark’s conversion seemed to wrap up the points with a 22-10 lead.

However, there was time for Oldham to have the last word. They put some slick passes together to attack in the wide channels. Fly half Gareth Barber’s grubber pushed play deep into the Wigton 22. Wigton conceded a penalty and Oldham took a scrum. They work the short side efficiently to create a second try for Watson and a score of 22-15 and a losing bonus point. This was the last act of the game with the final whistle going immediately afterwards.