U9s Draw A Line In The Sand Against Southport

Nick & Jonny’s Team
Another good tackling performance on Sunday was the difference between Wigan U9s and their visitors, Southport – and after the game, the opposition coaches (for the third week in succession) expressed their admiration for the standard of tackling from the Wigan players.

It was very close at times, as with some big, strong runners, Southport were difficult to stop, but the Wigan lads ignored their wet hair and cold fingers and continued with their impressive tackling right until the end.

Also in attack, the lads showed some superb offloads and support play, and one particular try that passed through five pairs of hands brought applause even from the Southport parents.

Joint Parents’ Man of The Match and Coaches’ Man of The Match was Finlay, who was the top passer of the day and also tackled well and scored three good tries, whilst Oliver and Max were joint top try scorers with four each and Jonah was the top tackler, and also got a couple of tries for himself.

Harry B got his mojo back this week and scored a fantastic try – leaving his dad looking as chuffed as a Leither with a bowl of lobbies, and Noah was as reliable as always with his tackling – rarely missing one, and never venturing above the waist.

Kian took the direct route – as he always does, knocking Southport players over en route to his two tries, whilst Alex worked really hard with his tackling, passing, and he also managed to score another try this week.

And finally, yet again, Wilson was dependable in all aspects: running, tackling, passing, and he showed a turn of pace that has clearly been handed down to him from his mother.

Phil & Bob’s Team
Game 1
Wigan 7 – Southport 2
Two very pleasing aspects of Wigan’s performance against a well drilled Southport outfit were the incredible tackling display and the development of a simple but effective game pattern in attack. Gone were the simple ‘one off the ruck’ drives, as Sonny controlled play and brought runners into play outside him. As a result, Sonny topped the passing stats as he created space for other in wider channels rather than running headlong into the opposition defence in the centre of the field. Later in the tackle count, Sonny also took advantage of the extra space created to secure 3 tries of his own. A mature performance indeed by Sonny. Harry H with 3 tries, and Toby 1 try ensured that we kept a safe distance ahead of Southport on the scoreboard throughout.

The tackling was on par with the Vale of Lune effort, with Will (16), Harry (17) & Sonny (21) dominating the statistics. There were simply no gaps in the centre of the field, and this was important as Southport had 2 very big players who were repeatedly cut down to the ground straight away with solid challenges which stopped them gaining a lot of metres. The Southport team were driven back in the tackle on several occasions and the defensive effort on our own try line in this game was outstanding, and the triplets and Lukus did everything asked of them - really putting their shoulders in for the team.

Game 2
Wigan 10 – Southport 4
Sam & Tom played starring roles in game 2, with excellent running and a try apiece, ably supported by Jack. Lukus again was candidate for try of the match after a dazzling run over half of the field, although Toby’s effort probably stood out after multiple offloads throughout the team. Toby really rose to the different challenge with 13 tackles, several which were spectacular efforts around the legs and a hat-trick of strong evasive runs. Bearing in mind this was Toby’s second game this performance was fantastic – earning both coaches’ and parents’ player of the match award.

Will’s strong running continued, straight through the heart of Southport defence and he added a long range try and another 12 tackles in midfield as he repeated the Vale of Lune defensive effort.

Sonny continued to dominate the game play bringing all the team into action from his pivot passing, and Harry added another 20+ tackles and 5 offloads.

This was a real team effort, with everyone getting a fair share of ball in attack outside Sonny, but defence wins matches so they say – and this really was a fantastic tackling display. Southport had 2 very good runners in attack however they could rarely get outside the clutches of the Wigan defence.

Awards:
Man Of The Match (Nick & Jonny’s Team) - Finlay
Man Of The Match (Phil & Bob’s Team) – Toby
Top Tackler (Nick & Jonny’s Team) – Jonah
Top Tackler (Phil & Bob’s Team) – Harry H
Top Passer (Nick & Jonny’s Team) – Finlay
Top Passer (Phil & Bob’s Team) – Sonny
Top Try Scorer (Nick & Jonny’s Team) – Max & Oliver
Top Try Scorer (Phil & Bob’s Team) - Sonny