Last U9s Match Before Christmas….

In their last fixture before Christmas, Wigan U9s hosted both Bolton and Bury on what turned out to be a lovely, crisp December morning.

Although the horrible weather on the previous evening had meant a couple of the minis’ teams had cancelled their matches in anticipation of frozen pitches and icy winds, the U9s coaches had adopted the ‘phone off, fingers crossed, have another pint, and hope for the good news in the morning’ approach, and thankfully (unthankfully) it paid off, and the games went ahead.

As expected, both visiting teams were very strong going forwards, and it was the Wigan tackling that was the difference yet again.

By full time, Wigan were the eventual winners overall with combined scores of 17-5 against Bolton and 25-8 against Bury.

On Phil & Jonny’s team, Oliver was the top tackler, but was only just ahead of Toby, Jonah, Will and Noah -who all looked very strong in defence as usual, and the day’s top passers were the resurged Harry B and the energetic Lukus.

Oliver had the most tries with 6, but was closely followed by Will (4), Jonah (3) and Harry B (3), however, every other player on the team – Noah (1), Toby (2), Lukus (1) – also managed to score at least 1 try each, and all also came very close on several other occasions.

In Bob and Nick’s team, Wilson and Harry were the top tacklers, but were closely followed by George, Sonny, Max and Archie, and Alex was the top passer for the second week in succession.

The top try scorers were Sonny (5), Max (5), Wilson (5) and Harry H (4), while George topped off an impressive all-round performance with 2 tries, and Archie – who continues to improve every week with his strong running, and offloads - also scored a try himself.

And a special mention to Finlay who manged to get himself a try before he succumbed to the cold and had to be taken to warmer surroundings and thawed out by his mum and dad.

But despite the bleak mid-winter weather, an absence of three wise men anywhere on the touchline, and the prospect of no myrrh rugby until the Near Year, it was lovely way to sign off before Christmas, and in keeping with the festive spirit, the Bury team and coaches even turned up in their Santa hats - which was a nice touch for our last ho-ho-home game of 2018.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all kids and parents from from Bob, Phil, Jonny, Wayne and Saint Nick.

Awards:
Man of The Match (Phil & Jonny’s Team) – Harry B
Man of The Match (Nick & Bob’s Team) – George
Top Tackler - Wilson
Top Passer - Alex
Top Try Scorers – Oliver, Sonny, Max and Wilson,