Greens on fire!

Wigton produced their best form of the season so far to end the challenge of Fleetwood with a terrific first half performance in which they built up a 34-0 lead. The second half was thrilling end to end stuff in which Fleetwood played a full part. Both sides were fully committed to attacking in an entertaining match which ended 53-12 to Wigton, but both teams could easily have scored twenty more points each.

Wigton had the first use of the breeze and stand off David Hanabury soon produced a great kick to set up play deep in the visitors’ 22. Centre Richard Moffatt and second row Mark Deans carried strongly as Wigton went in search of the opening try. However, they had to be satisfied with a penalty in front of the posts which gave an easy three points for full back Ryan Clark.

Fleetwood had a chance to level the scores when Wigton were penalised for a high tackle, but No 8 Scott Robertson pulled the ball from straight in front on the 22 metre line.

Wigton soon pushed their lead out to 10-0. Centre Oliver Lewis ran back a loose clearance kick to set up a ruck in the Fleetwood 22. Hanabury passed to second row Robert Marrs, coming back on the angle. He made good ground, passing back to the supporting Hanabury. He in turn produced a slick offload as he was tackled to prop forward Stuart Creighton. Clark added the conversion.

Wigton’s second score started with a scrum from where they attacked the blind side. When the ball came back to the open side, Hanabury hit Lewis with a short pass, which looked slightly forward, but Lewis took a great line and beat several defenders to finish strongly. Clark again converted to give Wigton a 17-0 lead.

Next Fleetwood enjoyed some possession in Wigton’s 22 and showed good attacking intent, if not execution. A passing move broke down and the ball ricocheted to Hanabury. He went to ground to set up a ruck and the ball was swiftly moved wide. Clark kicked into Fleetwood’s 22 where the defence were unable to deal with the situation and the ball found its way to Moffatt who scored. Clark again converted and the 24-0 scoreline was looking increasingly impressive.

Playing into the breeze, Fleetwood decided that they couldn’t kick their way out of trouble so they tried to pass and run their way out. Unfortunately, several moves ended with handling errors giving Wigton the ball in attacking positions. One such passage of play gave Wigton a scrum just outside the 22. Wigton opened up the field by first attacking the blindside and then moving the ball wide in the opposite direction. With referee Plummer playing advantage, No 8 Greg Wrathall needed up on the left wing and took the final pass to dive over in the corner. Clark was unable to covert, but at 29-0 Wigton already had the bonus point in the bag.

Wigton’s next assault was spearheaded by Lewis who made a great run from halfway and got right up to the tryline. Wigton were awarded a penalty for a high tackle which they used to set up a lineout. Play was halted for an injury and with Wigton being the team in possession. They restarted with a scrum. Wrathall picked up from the base and made a dynamic run as he powered through several defenders to score. As the whistle blew for half time, Wigton had a 34-0 lead.

The second half started in similar fashion. Fleetwood’s kick off failed to go ten metres and Wigton had a scrum on half way. The ball was simply passed to Moffatt who showed pace and power to run from halfway to score. Clark’s conversion made the score 41-0.

Wigton should have scored from the kick off. Deans caught the ball and made a damaging run deep into the Fleetwood half. Several phases later Wigton had a massive overlap, but the ball was dropped with the line wide open.

From then on the game was much more even as both sides played at great pace from all parts of the field. The ball was rarely kicked and penalties were often tapped to keep the pace of play high. Despite tight forwards calling for the game to be slowed down, this never happened and the game surged thrillingly from end to end.

Fleetwood scored the next try to gain a reward for their efforts. As the passes started to hit their mark, the Fleetwood back started to look more threatening. After several phases of play in their own 22, they broke out with a strong run from their right winger. They retained the ball in Wigton’s 22 until prop Scott Dobbie found some backs to crash through to register a try. Robertson converted for a 41-7 scoreline.

However, shortly afterwards Fleetwood found that high risk play carries......a high risk. Once again they tried to play their way out of a deep position but the ball was dropped. Wigton scrum half Dan Reed was on hand to pick it up and scramble over to score. 46-7.

Fleetwood’s high pace paid off a few minutes later when quick penalty taps took them forward and Robertson ran through several tackles to score his team’s second try which went unconverted.

Fleetwood were soon in Wigton’s 22 again and put he ball into a scrum. However, once again their handling was not precise enough and the ball hit the deck. Moffatt picked it up and passed to Clark. He ran fully seventy metres to outpace defenders for the final try which he converted leaving Wigton convincing winners with a 53-12 score.

Ollie Lewis was awarded Man of the Match in a close competition. Moffatt, Clark, Marrs and Deans were all in the reckoning. This performance gives Wigton a timely boost as they travel next week to surprise league leaders Keswick. It is no disrespect to Keswick to call them surprise leaders, but matches against ourselves and Aspatria will give a searching examination of their promotion credentials. Hopefully plenty of supporters will make the trip next week and hopefully coach Mark Lee will be able to select fro a position of strength