Stern Test at Ellesmere Port

Another late fixture change and this time a trip to Ellesmere Port. A beautiful sunny crisp morning, a great day for rugby and we all managed to arrive before the Cheshire Oaks traffic clogged the roads.

Ellesmere Port had a large squad of approximately 40 players, and even their warm up looked efficient and with a few big lads on their side. With both sides undefeated this season a promising challenge seemed to be in the offing.

A prompt 11am kick off saw Ellesmere on the front foot and putting pressure on Wigan, they recycled the ball well and drove forward. Their prop was large and was used as a battering ram a few times but Wigan’s defence was up to the challenge and tackled all that was coming at them. The first scrum looked as though it would be a struggle with Wigan having the obvious weight disadvantage, however they worked well and won against the head and relieved the pressure. There followed a good passing movement by the backs only to be penalised by the ref for a forward pass.
After a line out in the Wigan half the backs stretched the opposition and a well placed kick saw Billy chase and dribble the ball forward to the try line beating fierce opposition from the Ellesmere winger and fall on for the first score after 8 minutes. Joss’s return after missing last week saw him cooly slot the extras for a 7-0 lead.

The restart saw a great catch and drive from Kieron with good support. Wigan were now coming more into the game. Ellesmere were really good in the rucks and too often Wigan went in with the ball and were driven off and losing possession, however the forwards stuck to their tasks and tackle hard and drove well as a team, Tim, Sam & Ethan again great in the front row, Toby, Louis, Jacob, Ben tireless behind. There was another period of back and forward around the middle of the park, a couple of promising moves ended in knock ons as the home side put pressure Wigan.
Another solid scrum saw one move work though and good hands through Jos, Sam C, Logan, Tom ended with a kick that Billy kicked on, Samson appeared to be bundled over off the ball when a try looked on the cards, but only a scrum was awarded for a knock on by Ellesmere. The scrum was won cleanly and quickly Joss opting for the right side and the numbers there allowed Samson to go over to complete a well worked team try. This more difficult conversion was again cleanly converted by Joss for a 14-0 lead after 16 minutes.

This time the restart was allowed to go into touch and Ellesmere took advantage to push up the right flank and force a lineout near the Wigan line. Wigan won but Ellesmere were up quickly and were rewarded with an interception close to the Wigan line and were able to touch down under the posts, convert easily and reduce the deficit to 14-7 only a couple of minutes after the last try.

The rest of the first half was ebb and flow, the whole Wigan team putting pressure of Ellesmere when they had the ball and not giving them time to dwell. Another kick and chase came close but forced a 22 drop out from Ellesmere. Some good drives and testing runs by Wigan were well defended by Ellesmere and no breakthrough was made before the half time whistle

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, Xander, Sam L & making their mark on the match proving the strength and depth in this squad. The opposition had greater reserves to call on so were able to have fresh feet at various intervals but Wigan stuck to their tasks well.
Most of the half was played in the middle half of the pitch, the scrum becoming a war of attrition with a few resets due to collapses or the ball popping back out, as the game went on Ellesmere seemed to be getting the better of the push but great hooking again by Sam P and good work at the back of the scrum from joss managed to relieve the pressure
A few quick penalties taken by Joss through the match managed to test the opposition and the conceded an extra 10m more than once. One of these resulted in a penalty near enough in front of the posts for Joss to have a go at goal. It was still fairly far out but Joss again slotted it to take a 17-7 lead much to the delight of the Wigan supporters.
Wigan coped well in defence as did Ellesmere, so flowing moves were not as evident as usual. The pressure the Wigan backs were putting on Ellesmere seemed to get their fly half to kick a bit more, but our backs were able to field and return well.
Ellesmere came close toward the end but their big prop’s drive was bundled into touch for the final whistle.

Final score 17-7

MOM - Joss
Quote of the week – “go on whoever that was” - Lindy H

Well played Wigan. Another good team performance. Ellesmere Port provided one of the strongest challenges you had so far this season, we need to learn lessons from this and progress. See you at training Wednesday.
Thank you very much to Ellesmere Port for your hospitality.

Team – Tim, Sam P, Ethan, Toby, Louis, Jacob, Ben, Xander, Joss, Sam C, Logan, Tom, Kieron, Samson, Billy, Joe, Tap, Sam L