Dominant Wigton too powerful for Crusaders

Wigton began the match on the front foot and an early rolling maul by the Wigton forwards allowed Elliot Armstrong to touch down for Wigtons first try after only 11 minutes.

Three minutes later an attempted kick by Crusaders was charged down and quickly picked up by Stephen Harris who passed the ball out wide to Dan Reed and onto Colin Sessford who scored in the corner for a 10 nil lead. Shortly afterwards the Crusaders scrum was pushed backwards and another attempted clearance was charged down for an easy try by Fraser Ledingham. From the kick off Richard Moffatt collected the ball in his own half and raced through a number of despairing tackles for a clear run to touch down under the posts for Wigtons bonus point try, converted by himself to stretch the lead to 22-0.

The Wigton pack was proving far too strong for Crusaders who were unable to stop the maul legally in sight of the line and referee Trainor had no option but to award Wigton a penalty try. After 34 minutes a series of good passes between the backs allowed Richard Moffatt to score try number 6 which he converted to extend the lead to 36-0. A tremendous barnstorming run by Robert Marrs saw him heading towards the line before offloading to Richard Jackson who had an easy touchdown for try number 7 converted by Moffatt for a half time lead of 43-0.

Wigton began the second half as they finished the first with the forwards in total control of the ball and a strong drive by the pack gave Elliot Armstrong an easy touchdown for his second try. Credit must be given to Crusaders who never gave up and were beginning to get a little more possession forcing Wigton to defend their line. On 52 minutes John Story was shown a yellow card for a shoulder charge, but, after surviving the pressure Wigton were quickly at the other end of the pitch with Ryan Wannop scoring Wigtons 9th try converted by Moffatt.

Another tremendous run by Marrs driving through several tackles before giving Elliot Armstrong the simple task of touching down for his 3rd try and a 60-0 lead. On 59 minutes the Wigton players stopped as the Crusaders centre deliberately knocked the ball on before picking it up and running under the posts to score. Despite the Wigton protests the try was given and Crusaders had 7 points on the board. This setback was short lived and four further tries followed for Wigton by Richard Moffatt, Stephen Harris 2 and Dan Reed returning to the team after a few months absence.

The final result was an 84-7 victory with Wigton scoring an impressive 14 tries against a spirited Carlisle Crusaders side.