Wigton battle to the end, but a 6 try victory is not quite enough!

Once again the Green’s home form, which recently has been cause for so much hope, did not desert them and they scored 6 tries on the way to a comprehensive win. The general consensus from around the league is that the Cumbrians are too good to go down, but having lost 8 games this season by less than 1 converted try, they have to look to how they react under pressure to close out tight games and no wins outside of Cumbria also tells its own story.
A rousing pre match team talk from former captain and long time servant of the club Greg Morton made sure the players were in the right frame of mind to produce a fine display regardless of results elsewhere and the message was to put on a show for the loyal home supporters and give hope for next season at whatever level that would be.
Wigton duly responded and playing with a substantial wind behind them opened their account after 3 mins when a speculative box kick from scrum half Fergus Ledingham was allowed to bounce by the Leigh cover and as is often the way with rugby, the ball eluded them and popped into the hands of left wing Jordan Wood for the first score, converted by Gregg Smith. Try number 2 came soon after again triggered by Ledingham, who fielded a poor clearance to feed David Hanabury, back to his familiar role at fly half who weaved through a number of flat footed defenders to cross for his 15th 5 pointer of the season. This time Smith could not add the extras from a difficult position.
At this stage Leigh had not had any possession at all and so had not had a chance to test the home defence. They now got themselves into the game and their strong running forwards began to test the home defence. Again their proved to be holes in the first line of tacklers, but the scramble Wigton defence made amends and they managed to keep the visitors at bay.
Hanabury now turned provider and put Smith away for the 3rd try which he duly converted to make the score 19-0 after 26mins. Back came Leigh again using their powerful runners and attacking both sides of the breakdown to stretch the Greens defence. However, they were met with increasingly strong tackling, with second row pairing of Mark Deans and Robert Marrs particularly to the fore, however the pressure did eventually tell, with the home side conceding a kickable penalty which was duly converted to make the score 19-3.
The Greens were now determined to get their 4th try and put themselves closer to that bonus point win, the Wigton pack took over and after a period of pressure lead to a penalty 10m out, they chose to set up a maul to attempt to drive over the line. Andrew Bell took control of the tap and once again put his body on the line to meet the onrushing Leigh defence, this is a well practised routine for the Greens and using the power of fellow front rowers, David Waning and James Brough the inexorable progress to the line could not be halted and Captain Matthew Atkinson appeared at the back of the maul to dot the ball down for an unconverted try.
Leigh’s attacking play did not reap rewards as after a period of keeping the ball tight they finally released their backs to cross for an unconverted try from the visiting outside centre. This merely stung the Greens into more action and the impressive Deans, on his way to a Man of the Match performance powered through the increasingly tired looking defence to cross for a converted try to make the half time score 31-8 to the home side.
The talk at half time was one of maintaining focus as the wind was certain to play a part in giving Leigh hope for the second period. A resurgent start to the second half did give some cause for concern for the Lowmoor Road faithful and the visitors crossed for a converted try after only 4mins of the second period. However this would prove to be the final score for the Lancashire outfit and the remainder of the game belonged to the Greens, although into the wind the home side struggled to score more tries.
The only Wigton try of the second half was probably the best one of the game and was a real team effort with the ball passing through several pairs of hands. The ball was moved the full width of the pitch where wide out on the left, both wingers combined well to release Callum Studholme returning after injury finish very well in the left hand corner. The difficult conversion was completed with aplomb by Smith.
The only disappointing aspect of the second half was the loss of scrum half Ledingham with a broken collar bone, which resulted in a major reshuffle, with Stephen Carruthers playing his last ever game for the Greens entering the fray at hooker with John Story moving from the flank to cover on the wing, a measure of his athleticism that he deputised very effectively out wide, to allow openside Andrew Brown to fill in at number 9. And was a tremendous job he did, distributing the ball magnificently to the Wigton runners, with centre Chris Pattinson and flanker Stuart Creighton once again stand outs, consistently crossing the gain line.
The loss of Tom Gardner with a hamstring pull was a shame, and the hope is he will recover in time to play his part in the county programme this year. The final substitution saw Sean Clorley play his part at prop, and a the age of 48 his fitness serves as hope to all that rugby is not just a young man’s game.
Despite the heroics at Lowmoor Road, Anselmians victory at home to Northwich consigned Wigton to North Lancs and Cumbria next year. All concerned have seen enough potential this year to indicate that if the team can stay together they will stand every chance of an immediate return to this level.