Wigton received an unexpected boost when fly half David Hanabury was declared fit to make his first appearance of the season. Although not yet match sharp, his was a steady hand at the tiller, providing direction to the Greens. His scrum half partner, Fergus Ledingham, seemed pleased to see Hanabury return, as he too, played an important part in Wigton's win, being sharp and fluent at the base of the breakdowns, and dictating the pace of the game.

The strong wind was always going to be a key factor and Wigton played with the wind first. New Brighton tried to play textbook into-the-wind rugby by keeping the ball close to their heavy forwards. However, Wigton defended with great determination all afternoon and the visitors found that this tactic meant forward progress was slow, but any errors could be mercilessly punished. This was seen when Wigton winger Johnny Charters used the wind to boot the ball into the New Brighton 22. The visitors found that it was very hard to make much distance with clearance kicks and Wigton's lineout functioned very well.

A lineout a few yards from the line saw a catch and drive trundle towards the whitewash. Referee Martin Maughan ruled the ball was held up, giving Wigton the put in to a scrum five. The heavier New Brighton pack pushed Wigton off their own ball, but the clearance kick only made a couple of yards. This gave Wigton another lineout and this time they made no mistake as the ball was caught and driven over the line with No 8 Stuart Creighton claiming the try. This gave Wigton a 5-0 lead.

A good blindside move from a scrum involving Creighton, Ledingham and full back Gregg Smith released winger Ryan Clark, whose run took play back to New Brighton's 22. Low kicks were also paying dividends and making ground. On the other hand, New Brighton were exerting pressure on Wigton's scrum and Creighton had to be on form to pick up the ball from the base of a retreating scrum. In fact, in the game as a whole Wigton held up well in the scrums and retained most of their own ball.

New Brighton started to counter Wigton's lineout drive which started to make more modest gains. Similarly a pick and go game was comfortably defended by their heavy forwards. The wider channels looked more promising attacking territory, but in the windy conditions this was not always easy to execute. One key to Wigton's win was the fact that their passing into wider channels was more accurate than New Brighton's.

The feeling among the spectators was that the wind was worth upwards of twenty points and as the clock ticked away, Wigton's lead looked on the slender side. It went out to 8-0 when Charters kicked a penalty, but the home supporters were hoping for more. There was an opening when New Brighton dropped the ball and Hanabury zeroed in on it. With the choice between kicking on and picking up, he opted to pick up, but in his breaking stride, the defence were able to catch him.

After 35 minutes Hanabury produced a clever inside pass to prop Lindsay Walker. He surprised the defence by dummying and then galloping over the line from twenty yards for an excellent individual try. Charters nailed the conversion and at 15-0 the lead looked healthier.

However, although they ended the half on the attack, Wigton were unable to add to their lead and during the halftime interval the feeling was that they would have to play at their very best to defend that lead.

That is exactly what Wigton did. They produced a marvellous defensive effort with everyone playing their part. The tactics were spot on and excellent execution meant that New Brighton were denied the ball for long periods. This was done with key second row Robert Marrs off the field injured for a large part of the half. Further disruption was caused by a number of blood injuries to prop Russell McLean. Into the breech stepped Creighton and particularly, Walker. Both did a monumental amount of ball carrying which kept the ball away from the opposition. The feeling after the game was that this was probably Walker's finest game for Wigton.

In the first twenty minutes, most of the play was around the Wigton 22. New Brighton were close to the try line on several occasions but Wigton were determined with their fringe tackling and when the ball was moved wider Wigton's line speed often pushed their opponents behind the gain line. When they had the ball, Wigton did not panic but played sensible rugby with the ball moved wider at the right times. Having seen how futile an exercise defensive kicks were, Wigton defended the whole of the second half with practically no kicking.

Gradually the areas of action moved further upfield towards halfway. There was some excellent interlinking between backs and forwards with possession being well guarded. Centres Chris Pattinson and Richard Moffatt did their share of ball carrying and the halfbacks directed the play superbly.

Inevitably, New Brighton did have possession of their own, but in the last few minutes, when they had more possession again, it seemed as though the amount of tackling they had done left them jaded for offensive operations. A penalty kick by Joe Silcock made the score 15-3. This put them in a position where one try would give them a losing bonus point. This looked possible as they were awarded a series of penalties in the last few minutes. However, although they had field position only a few feet from the line, Wigton defended with real commitment and pride to keep the line intact.

This win will give Wigton a real boost. We only hope that knocks picked up by Marrs, Ledingham and Hanabury prove to be minor.