Tough workout but another good win!

Aldwinians had clearly done their homework and came with a game plan to shackle the Wigton backs. They were very disciplined in their kicking game, rarely producing the sort of loose kick which would enable Wigton's backs to run back with interest. Aldwinians tried to restrict the number of broken field situations upon which Wigton would thrive, and instead tried to play a game dominated by set pieces. They had a sound defensive pattern and a line which advanced quickly. They committed bodies to the breakdown, denying the home team quick, clean ball. They also had a capable young front row which gave them the edge in the scrum for most of the game. That said, they did have some limitations: they played conservatively and rarely threatened from distance; furthermore their line out was a disaster area as they won less than a quarter of the balls on their own put in.

The home spectators have grown used to a series of tryfests so far, but that did not materialise today. In truth it is unrealistic to expect us to put fifty points on every team we meet and there are clubs in this league who will be doing their best to scupper our aim of promotion. Aldwinians clearly are one of those. Few trips out of the county will be easy.

But to the game........

To be honest we spent most of the first half waiting for a game to break out. Wigton were somewhat imprecise and loose with their handling and struggled to generate the wave of attacking phases that have been a feature of much of the season so far. An early promising attack was brought back by referee Lythgoe for a forward pass. We had a couple of penalty shots by Ali Ledingham, one of which gave us a 3-0 lead, whilst the other came back off the post. Both sides were struggling to find a pattern to their play and quite a number of passes hit the deck. Wigton seemed unsure whether to spin the ball wide or to drive forward with the pack.

A penalty gave Aldwinians a foothold in the home 22. As became a feature of the afternoon, Wigton won the line out against the throw, and Fergus Ledingham cleared. However, the ball was skilfully plucked out of the air by an Aldwinians player and the defence, expecting touch to be found, were stranded offside. Aldwinians opted for a scrum from where the ball was kicked. They got a nudge on at the scrum, picked up and drove for the line, with prop Anthony Nathaniel touching down. Skipper James Worral added the conversion to produce a 3-7 scoreline, and for the first time this season, Wigton were behind.

The Greens were at least, galvanised by the score and hit back to fashion some chances. David Hanabury made a break and took play towards the line, but his pass was surprisingly dropped by Mark Lee. Just before halftime, from a scrum, Wigton managed to break the defence up by moving, and retaining, the ball. Play moved left and then right again. Robert Marrs was heavily involved in keeping momentum going, and Ali Ledingham found a gap to go through for a try, which he himself converted to make it 10-7 at half time.

Coach Brown made changes to show the increasing depth of the squad at his disposal. Peter Dobson did a spell at prop and Tane Manihera was thrown into the fray for the second half. Indeed Tane was to be a key character in the half, being responsible for all three tries. Unfortunately one of these was by Aldwinians. Wigton started positively and were zipping the passes around with greater accuracy. Aldwinians fly half Jones produced a long clearance kick which Will Miller almost kept in play, but unfortunately the ball went into touch off him, giving the visitors a line out deep in our 22. As now was the norm, Wigton won the line out but the palm down was rather heavy-handed. Tane tried to shovel the ball back to a supporting player for a clearance, but only pushed it into the hands of Aldwinians Callum Craig, who gratefully rolled over the line. Worral converted to make it 10-14.

That was pretty much the last time Aldwinians had the ball in the Wigton half, as the Greens dominated the last half hour. Aldwinians knocked on from the kick off. Hanabury found a little gap and was tackled by No 8 Marsland. He in turn was penalised for not rolling away. Ledingham kicked the penalty to narrow the gap to 13-14.

Aldwinians were under the cosh but frustrated Wigton attempts to drive over from line outs and mauls. As the half went on, the penalty count rose against the visitors. Too often they took the whistle as an invitation to debate, and several times gave up a further ten yards. As the time passed, Wigton looked to be the fresher side and by the last quarter had managed to stabilise the scrum and make it a better platform for attack. From on such scrum Lee,operating at 8, worked a very narrow blind side and released the ball to Manihera for his first try. No conversion but a lead of 18-14.

Wigton put pace onto the game with quick taps as Lee and Story linked well with their backs. The game grew feisty and Aldwinians Jones was yellow carded after an accumulation of offences. The Mancunians still resisted as Wigton's backs stretched their defence. With the visitors' back line caught off side, Ledingham's third penalty took the lead out to 21-14.

Aldwinians successfully defended their line from a series of driving mauls and scrambled well when the ball was moved wide. The last play of the day saw Wigton put into a scrum on the Aldwinians 22. Atkinson picked up and offloaded to Manihera. He looked around whilst deciding who to pass to. The defence obligingly waited for him to make up his mind. Time stood still as Tane finally decided not to pass at all, but to test his stamina by scampering through the enormous gap conveniently left by the defence. This left Ledingham a simple conversion to wrap up the game at 28-14.

A look at the visitor's record this season, with only one loss to the threatening looking Eccles, shows that they are definitely one of the stronger teams in the league so today's win is not to be sneezed at. Seven down, nineteen to go.