Aldwinians 40 - 18 Wigan

Wigan travelled to East Manchester to take on Aldwinians in their first fixture for 18 months following the covid-19 pandemic. A depleted squad took to the field and made the most of some early Aldwinians mistakes. Jon Clayton made a break through the middle before finding Brad Makinson on halfway. Makinson stepped the remaining defenders before going over in the corner to make the score 0-5 after just 2 minutes of play.

Wigan hopes were further bolstered when the ball went loose and was collected by Jack Proffitt. Proffitt made ground by beating his man before offloading to Will Boardman who found himself in acres of space. Deceptive pace took Boardman away from the trailing defenders and he went over for the second Wigan try to take the score to 0-10 after 5 minutes.

Aldwinians regrouped and spent much of the remainder of the first half camped in Wigan territory. Infringements on 12 minutes and 17 minutes led to Aldwinians’ penalties which were duly converted and the sides went in 6-10 at half time.

Aldwinians resumed in much the same manner, with constant pressure resulting in another infringement and converted penalty. Wigan added one of their own and the score was 9-13

20 minutes into the second half, Aldwinians were once again trying to press home their territorial advantage but again were rebuffed by excellent Wigan defending. The ball was forced loose and once again Jack Proffitt was the first to react, scooping up the loose ball in his own 22 and using his pace to take the ball almost the full length of the field to add a Wigan score against the run of play and take the score to 9-18

Normal service soon resumed and Aldwinians took advantage of the tiring Wigan defence and broke through the middle before being brought up just short. A long arm reached out and grounded the ball and Aldwinians had their first try to close the scores to 16-18.

Aldwinians added further scores as their talented fullback started to run the show. A break down the right hand side took Aldwinians into a 23-18 lead before another penalty was added.

With the scores at 26-18 and 15 minutes remaining, Aldwinians had a sniff of a bonus point and grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Aldwinians broke through the middle twice more and the fourth and final try was completed with a deft grubber kick which left the Wigan fullback turning on his heels.

Whilst a 40-18 defeat is difficult to swallow, it was great to get back to the action. Wigan now look forward to the away fixture with Burnley this coming Saturday 11th September, with kickoff scheduled for 2.15pm.