Bolton picked up what was for them, a vital four points to keep them just clear of the relegation zone with a 10-17 win over Wigton at a cold, damp Lowmoor Road. Both sides produced a lot of indifferent rugby in a game where line breaks were a rarity. Bolton established superiority in the set scrums and that was enough to see them to victory.

Wigton had use of the wind first and it was twenty minutes before Bolton had possession out of their own half. The Greens had possession in the visitors' 22 but gave the ball away with a combination of knock ons and penalties. Bolton, on the other hand seemed determined to return the ball to their hosts by similar methods. During this period, winger Johnny Charters missed a penalty and then kicked one to give Wigton a narrow 3-0 lead. For Bolton, fly half Mark Doherty was off target with a penalty kick given for a high tackle.

It was evident from early on that Bolton were intent on using their scrummage as the cornerstone of their game plan. Awarded penalties in the Wigton 22, they frequently opted for a scrum, which paid dividends in the long term. Their back moves seemed to mainly consist of bringing Will Bate into midfield off his blindside wing.

Their first effort pummel Wigton into submission by scrummage saw the ball fumbled at the base of the scrum, resulting in half backs Tane Manihera and Fergus Ledingham combining to clear the ball into the Bolton 22. Wigton were awarded a scrum ten yards out, but, not for the last time, Wigton gave up a good attacking position due to an inability to win their own ball.

Wigton nearly scored just before half time when Ledingham took a quick tap. Manihera's rushed pass was picked up on the bounce by centre Richard Moffatt. He showed good strength to stay on his feet and his forwards drove him over the line but the ball was held up. Wigton were awarded a five yard scrum, but were unable to make use of the ball.

Wigton looked like they had established a possibly decisive lead in a low scoring game early in the second half. They retained the ball well but were struggling to breach the defence close to the tryline. Manihera, having just made a little ground with a dummy, tried to repeat the performance. However, he was trapped and stripped of the ball by three undummied defenders. As Bolton tried to clear from behind their own line, the kick was charged down by Wigton skipper, second row Robert Marrs, who then touched down the loose ball to claim a try. Charters converted to give Wigton a 10-0 lead.

Bolton came back strongly trying to build pressure with good phase play. This produced a penalty which Doherty slotted over to narrow the gap to 10-3.

There then came a period of intense pressure by Bolton, based around their scrum. On one occasion the ball was dropped by the player falling over the line, but Wigton were penalised for delaying the put in at the scrum five. As the penalties mounted, referee Mr Castles started to fall out of sympathy for the Greens. First Manihera was shown the yellow card for a breakdown offence. Immediately afterwards, another scrum offence prompted the award of a penalty try. This levelled the scores at 10-10.

Some might say that the score should have stayed like that on the basis that neither team deserved to win but it was not to work out like that. Another scrum offence gave Doherty the chance to take the lead but his penalty kick fell short from forty yards. Wigton threatened to break out of defence and given that their backs looked slightly more threatening, this was not an unlikely scenario. Unfortunately momentum crunched to a halt with a forward pass. From the following scrum Bolton tried to run the ball but contrived to pass it into touch. Wigton won good lineout ball but coughed it up with a big knock on. Bate chipped up the left touchline and as the ball failed to be put away by defenders and crossed the tryline, he dived for glory but failed to touch down cleanly.
Wigton then put the drop out straight into touch. Bolton's pack salivated at the thought of a scrum on the home 22. They drove forward ten yards and then released the ball. A couple of phases later, Doherty made one of the day's few line breaks to ghost through the defence and score the winning try which he converted for a 10-17 lead.

Shortly afterwards, Bolton wrapped the game up by kicking the ball into touch from another scrum. At the end of the day, Bolton managed to show superiority in one aspect of the game, a game which saw plenty of toil but little else, explaining why the two teams are in the wrong half of the table.

The sponsors for the day were a contingent of ex-players and they awarded centre Chris Pattinson the man of the match - great to have him back on the pitch!

Colts vs Morpeth

In the other home match, the senior Colts took on league leaders Morpeth and went down 36-7. Wigton's try was scored by Kieran Armstrong with a Sam Harrison conversion. The Morpeth coaches awarded the Man of the match award to scrum half Josh Leeson.