Wigton Fightback Comes Too Late

Wigton 1st XV made their longest trip of the season to New Brighton, once again travelling without key players with both Gregg Smith and Lindsay Walker unavailable.

As the game kicked off in glorious sunshine, the long journey clearly affected the Wigton players. A high tackle on 6 minutes gave New Brighton a penalty. From the ensuing line out, a clean catch and clever move behind the line out brought the first try and a simple conversion to New Brighton on 7 minutes. With Wigton struggling to put any meaningful moves together, a bad pass along the backs was mishandled gifting New Brighton an interception and a clear run beneath the posts, the try was duly converted and the home side led 14-0 on 14 minutes.

Wigton started to gain more possession with a jinking run from Will Greenwell only for the ball to be dropped in a promising position. Following a great Wigton scrum the ball was moved out to the backs only for the referee to call play back and signal a penalty to New Brighton. An altercation had taken place at the back of the scrum and captain Andrew Brown was shown the yellow card. The resultant penalty kick gave New Brighton a commanding 17-0 lead on 23 minutes.

At last the Wigton players burst into life and were making forceful tackles and creating good possession. Long kicks were now finding touch and strong runs from Jonny Charters and Robert Marrs gave Wigton some optimism. Winger Stephen Harris made a strong run infield only to be tackled on the try line, the ball was quickly moved out wide but unfortunately the ball was knocked on within sight of the line. Despite a period of sustained pressure, points were not forthcoming and on the stroke of half turn an infringement in the ruck gave New Brighton a straightforward penalty and three points to lead 20-0 and half time.

The 2nd half began in similar fashion with a penalty to New Brighton for an offside, persistent pressure brought a try and conversion and the home side were leading 27-0 on 45 mins. At this point it would have easy for the Wigton heads to have dropped but all credit to the players and despite blood injuries to Richard Moffatt and Russell McLean, the team drove forward and dominated the remainder of the game. Following a series of infringements, a yellow card was shown to a New Brighton player and from the resultant penalty, Wigton set up a driving maul with Andrew Brown crashing over the line for Wigton’s first try, the score was now 27-5.

Wigton continued to press and following a great passage of play Stephen Harris crossed over the line for another Wigton try, 27-10 to New Brighton. With Wigton advancing in numbers, a second yellow was shown to a New Brighton player for offside. A good kick brought a 5m line out and after a powerful driving maul, the ball was moved out wide for Ryan Clark to score in the corner to make the score 27-15 on 77 minutes. Wigton continued to move the ball around and only a knock on in the last minute prevented Wigton from scoring again, the final whistle blew and a 27-15 victory to the home side.

New Brighton certainly came out the blocks quicker and punished Wigton in the early stages. If Wigton had only started both halves the way they had finished them, the result may well have been different. Three tries a piece but New Brighton take the points. The small band of travelling supporters nominated Will Greenwell as man of the match.