Chorlton And The Bealies

Jonny & Nick’s Team:
On a nice fresh Sunday morning in Chorlton, this week’s opposition were Broughton Park, and despite some of the dads looking like they could have done with another hour of beauty sleep (and several more hours on top of that in some cases), right from the start it was clear that the early kick-off had not affected the lads’ enthusiasm, especially in their tackling.

In fact, on several occasions the Broughton Park coaches and parents commented on how impressive the Wigan tackling was, and one asked if they could have some of our players on a season-long loan!

Such was the aggression of the tackling at the start of the second match that the Broughton players couldn’t wait to get rid of the ball and it moved through their hands quicker than a prop at a pie convention.

Harry H was top tackling for this team, closely followed by Max and Oliver, and Max was the top passer and try scorer.
Other try scorers were Oliver, Benito, Sam, Harry H, and Archie.

Alex, Tom, Jack and Sam were as reliable as ever, and nearly always first to the ball. This week they all added some strong tackling and confident running to their overall performances – and all seem to be improving with each week.

Parents’ Man of The Match for this team, and for both teams combined, was Archie – who frightened the opposition players to death when he got a head of steam up, and he also chipped in with six good tackles.

By the end of an enjoyable morning, Wigan had won both matches 4-7 and 2-7

However, the performance of the day was reserved for coach Nick Beale, who having expertly refereed two matches and watched his son put in another impressive performance, returned to his car to find he had locked the keys in it......

Phil & Bob’s Team:
Wigan u9 kept up their so far unbeaten run at Broughton Park's Hough End ground. Game 1 left the home side bewildered by a relentless tackling display.

The line speed and alignment - all managed by George & Finlay - was very impressive. It was Sonny however who stood out (again), most notably with his tackling display this week. His work rate was incredible and the odd high tackle from previous matches now totally corrected. Some of the attacking team plays were also a joy to watch, with several offloads resulting in special tries for man of the match Lukus and Fin. Lukus deserves special mention for his cover defence and dazzling running and he certainly knows where the try line is.

Harry B was his usual uncompromising self in attack- very direct no nonsense stuff resulting in impressive scores and often sending opponents juddering back on contact. Will seems to have eradicated his penalty count issues from Wales with more disciplined attacking runs without hand offs that gave the team great go-forward. Crunching tackles in midfield from Noah and Henry meant the home side were repeatedly losing ground and a 20+ phase in defence was praised by the home ref when the Broughton Park player was finally bundled into touch. A staggering team defensive effort, including several strong inputs from Alex, and one bell-ringer from Noah that had Bob Astley wincing!

The second game was far more competitive but the overall Wigan dominance continued. Sonny again proved to be stand out performer, unplayable at times, and we now must look to build on the pivot role introduced during this morning's matches. George and Fin again chalked up impressive scores and Wilson added finesse with his guile and stepping ability. Henry ran Sonny close on the tackle count and was back to his best as the defensive tree-cutter.

The Wigan try line was broken a few times in the latter encounter, including some breathtaking running by their substitute and strong running by a couple of Broughton's starlets. This was far from easy, however full time came with the Douglas Valley mob winning run intact.

This was a highly impressive and most enjoyable morning of rugby with great hosts. The Wigan coaches were beaming from ear to ear. It's very rewarding to see the growth in this squad week by week, and the potential is crazy moving forward.

The scores in the two matches were 2-8 and 5-10 in favour of Wigan

And the combined aggregate score of all four matches was Broughton Park 11 – Wigan 24

Awards:
Parents’ Man Of The Match – Archie
Coaches’ Man Of The Match - Lukus
Top Tackler – Sonny
Most Passes – Sonny
Most Tries - Sonny