A Christmas Cracker of a Win

Wigton continued with their formidable home form with a comfortable 25-5 win over third place promotion chasers De la Salle. In fact, had Wigton’s finishing been matched by their approach play, they would not have been flattered by an even wider score line as they dominated this match territorially, with Della only threatening to score in the last fifteen minutes or so.

Wigton’s first try started when a penalty kick gave them a lineout in the visitors’ 22. There was a touch of good fortune about the opening try. Stand off David Hanabury was tackled just as he passed and the ball flew through the hands of the intended receiver but ended up in the hands of flanker Josh Nicholson who was delighted to see no defenders in front of him so accepted the invitation to surge through the defence and cross for a try which Ryan Clark converted. This try was a good reward for Nicholson who is currently playing with plenty of vim and vigour and covering oceans of ground in each match.

From the restart Wigton were soon on the attack again. The pack were carrying well, sucking in defenders and generating quick, front foot ball. Della stemmed the flow but only at the expense of a penalty a few yards out. Wigton’s forwards tapped the ball to set up a maul which drove over the line with hooker Elliot Armstrong claiming the try. Armstrong is another player who has produced consistent form in the last few weeks and has produced his best first team rugby.

The conversion was missed but Wigton were 12-0 ahead.

Della had some opportunities to get things going with possession outside Wigton’s red zone, but a combination of strong tackling and handling errors frustrated their efforts.

Wigton really should have scored their third try before half time. Deep in De la Salle territory, the confident pack opted to take a series of penalties as scrums, threatening to drive the Della eight back over their own line, but never quite managing it. Instead try hey had to be satisfied with three points from a Clark penalty in front of the sticks.

Wigton were able to fashion overlaps but Della’s defenders scrambled well, keeping the lead to 15-0 as halftime approached. The last significant action of the half saw referee Martin Maughan show the yellow card to Wigton’s No 8 Greg Wrathall and Della’s prop Hass Sadrazan, after he spotted the pair of them in a festive embrace after a ruck.

The second half saw Wigton continue to dominate. Centre Richard Moffatt made one of several strong solo runs which almost saw him reach the line before being hauled down. The ball was quickly moved wide to the right where second row/centre Mark Deans was able to crash over for another, unconverted, try.

Wigton made a mess of the restart, coughing up possession, but second row Matthew Corrigan rescued the situation with a great turnover. A yellow card was shown to Della second row Adam Massey who was spotted lashing out round a ruck, although if his body language was anything to go by, he felt badly done to as he was trying to persuade a Wigton forward to let go of him.

Short-handed and under pressure in their own 22, Della decided to try to run the ball from eighty yards out, but only dropped a pass, giving Wigton a scrum in very dangerous territory. More pressure brought more penalties resulting in hooker Lee Salisbury being yellow carded as the referee’s patience became somewhat frayed. However, that did mean the game went to uncontested scrums which at least took a pushover try out of the equation. Della continued to tackle demonically and it took quite a long time for the fifteen men to overcome the thirteen. Finally, when the ball was moved to the right wing numbers ran out and Jay Henderson’s try wrapped up the bonus point and made the score 25-0.

It was at this point that the visitors sprang to life and produced their best play of the day, dominating the final part of the match. Determined running saw them finally string phases of play together and flanker Ryan Worthington squeezed in for a try on the left hand touchline. Stand off Jimmy Evans was unable to convert, but Della were on the score board at 25-5.

A penalty from the restart got them back into Wigton territory again. As they were restored to full strength, Wigton lost a man when back rower Stuart Creighton was carded for what was deemed a deliberate knock on. Both Worthington and No 8 Paul Berry went close to scoring, but it was now Wigton who showed the defensive determination to hold out until the final whistle ended an entertaining game.

If Wigton could produce away form to match home form, they could be in the running for promotion. One thing is sure however, any team which does fancy going up a league will have to be on top of their game when they visit Lowmoor Road.