Another Under 9s Win - Done, Dusted, And Fylde Away

Phil & Nick’s Team
Wigan's very own young battlefield heroes produced another display to be proud of on a poignant and reflective 11th November trip to Lytham.

Wilson showed bravery, quality and determination in a fantastic morning which delivered 25 tackles and 4 offloads. Wilson topped the tackle count but his courage was the main reason for his tackling award. Most notable were 2 classic hits on Fylde's Flying Fijian who was strong and athletic in attack. As usual Harry H contributed high on the tackle count with 24 and was generally a menace in attack adding a brace of tries. Harry is the heartbeat of the team every week, and a growing leader with his communication style.

Will delivered a strong performance - his most effective so far - getting over the try line on 3 occasions but sadly only one robust effort gained approval of the officials to register. Will played with much more enthusiasm and discipline in a game where he finished 3rd on the tackle count; a far more industrious effort that earned him the coaches’ player award.

Max (hat trick) and Fin (2) were excellent with ball in hand, and Finlay, Lukus & Benito battled it out for try of the day after long range fleet of foot running - all 3 were spectacular individual efforts that drew much admiration from sideline. It was also great to see Jonah back in the fold today as well, and he slotted in very well with great running and a classy score.

Fylde's first team struggled to deal with the high intensity black'n'white defence, and it was again commented on by opposition coaches. The Wigan line repeatedly knocked their opponents backwards and forced dropped ball with solid contact, and Wigan proved far too physical and seized on every home side error to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

The second match resulted in a narrow defeat, totally down to the individual brilliance of one of their Kirkham Grammar stars of the future. This kid was exceptional in attack and defence and caused Wigan much trouble, sadly leaving with a head injury after an attempted tackle on the rock-solid Max.

Our boys were probably slightly less effective due to a little fatigue and drop off in intensity, but it was refreshing to face a meaningful challenge from a good side.

Overall however, Wigan were too strong as a squad and took the cumulative spoils at close of play. Like Sedgley Park, Fylde have some talented individuals but once again the Wigan strength in depth was just too much on the day. Still defensive work to tidy up, but the coaches remain delighted with progress.

The 11am Remembrance silence followed, impeccably honoured of course 100 years on.

Bob & Jonny’s Team
The ‘other’ Wigan Under 9s team in today’s matches played equally well as their friends on the pitch next door, and also came out as aggregated winners over their two games.

For the second week running, Sonny was the top try scorer, with George, Archie, Oliver, Tom, Jack, Henry, and Harry B also scoring.
Today was Tom’s best game by far this season, and he was very unlucky not to win one of the man of the match awards, although his brother Sam also stood out, or was it Jack? Either way, all three of the brothers had very very good games this week.

Tom, Sonny, Archie, George and Harry B were very impressive going forwards, whilst Henry was the team’s top tackler – missing out on the overall top tackler award between the two teams by a single tackle.

Oliver was this week’s top passer.

The most impressive feature of today’s matches however, was the kids being served their post-match sausage and chips by a man in a tweed suit and tie.

A suggestion for similar has been lodged with the Wigan RU Juniors’ Committee for future home games.

We suspect we already know what the response will be.

Final aggregate score: Fylde 18 Wigan 27

Awards:
Parents’ Man Of The Match – Henry
Coaches’ Man Of The Match - Will
Top Tackler – Wilson
Most Passes – Oliver
Top Try Scorer – Sonny