Injuries take their toll

The roller coaster that reflects Wigton's North West 1 season continues to frustrate everyone connected with the playing side of the club - although selection issues left us short of a number of lead players. To be effective at this level the whole squad need to be able to take on the week to week challenges and come out on top if we are to pose a serious threat to the top end of this league.

So the greens took the field with a development look to the line up and set about their task. For 30 minutes they were the more impressive side with the front 5 going well and producing ample possession, however, a combination of ineffective ball carrying and failure to develop line breaks meant that the combined efforts of forwards and backs came to nought ,and Kirkby began to grow in confidence as the half progressed.

However the first real foray into KL red territory led to a try , on 36 minutes excellent line out ball was moved wide and following good phase play a line break from Matt Atkinson allowed him to draw the last man and put Dave Hanabury over for a try which he also converted.
Unfortunately a lack of cohesion following the restart led to a penalty at a ruck offence and James Pickthall stroked over for 3 points. Half time 3-7.

For the second period KL had the slope and the knowledge that despite limited possession they were very much in the game on the scoreboard. They had an effective kicking game during the half and pegged Wigton back as our back 3 were tested out. Up to 60 minutes the game remained competitive but with neither side able to string together effective attacking play.
Then within 5 minutes KL had 2 tries which effectively took the game away from the greens - firstly an attempted clearance kick was charged down gifting a try to youngster James Terry and then following an impressive kick out of defence which took play to half way, a strong counter run from Joe Maddock broke 4 attempted tackles and he was able to give a pass to the supporting Terry who completed his brace in style. Pickthall again converted .

Wigton looked to get back in the game and a period of strong mauling and line out play took them close to the line. Eventually after sustained pressure a smart offload from prop Stuart Creighton put Tom Gardner over with Dave Hanabury just missing out on a conversion. Score 15-12. KL responded taking play back to Wigton and sensing a tight finish Dave Barton opted for a drop goal to open a 6 point cushion; Wigton responded well and with Dowes , Creighton and Wood taking the ball forward pushed into the K L territory but were unable to get over.

The final score of the game came when a poor clearance kick was again returned effectively by KL and Dave Barton was able to touch down and round off a disappointing afternoon for the greens. Final score 23 - 15.

Effective set play from all the front five (six including the returning Rob Marrs ) was reflected in the award of supporters M O M to Russ McLean.

With injury problems continuing to plague the squad a similar line up is likely to take the field next week with everyone looking for an improved performance; the squad have regrouped well already this season on a number of occasions.

With ample possession available week to week players will be looking to improve the selection and execution of attacking ploys and on the back of Saturdays display some defensive drills can be expected too.

A strong performance against LSH would also be the least that could be expected if we are to reward and retain the interest of an increasing number of regular local supporters.

After 13 matches we have accumulated 33 points and are half through the season, we have used 32 players of which 28 have come through the clubs junior sides. We remain committed to developing players from within the club system whilst embracing any newcomers who opt to join us - despite a growing injury list we will not be looking to recruit players from other clubs or codes but will strive to give the best coaching and advice to our young players in preparing them to take on the challenge of North West 1 rugby - the ones who attend sessions on a regular basis and commit to strength and conditioning in their own time are likely to be the one's who will progress and play effective rugby.

We are making progress, 2 years ago at this stage of the season we had accumulated 13 points and won 2 games.