Wigan U8s v Bolton U8s

Players: Nathan, Patrick, Daniel, Jamie, Levi, Francis, Connor, Joseph
Weather: Dry and cold
Pitch conditions: excellent

Gloves and tights were the order of the day (even for some of the players) as Wigan faced tough opposition from host club Bolton and visitors Littleborough. Indeed the Littleborough outfit attempted to wrestle an early psychological advantage by warming up using tackle bags. Yet they hadn't bargained on Wigan's ability to block out all distraction and concentrate solely on the job in hand.

Three games were arranged in a Round Robin Tournament ( Coach Butler's favourite of all the formats). The first against Littleborough showed off the excellent progress the boys have made of late. In the face of a bigger and more physical team, they showed great resolve and stuck to their task doggedly. The early skirmishes were tight with Daniel, Nathan and Patrick showing the way with some crisp tagging. Francis brought a gasp from the crowd with his determined running. He's a big lad; he's a fast lad but he was denied an early try by a last ditch tag. However Francis was not to be denied much longer as his direct running brought him a well deserved try. Connor showed his pace and class with a try and Nathan continued his rich vein of try scoring form ( which seems to have lasted about two years) to grab a couple for himself.
The game ended with Wigan losing by the odd try 4-5.

The second game against hosts Bolton brought out the very best the Wigan outfit have to offer. Patrick led the way as his dramatic run down the touch line towards a try brought the crowd to its feet (admittedly many were already standing). Nathan continued to probe the Bolton defence with his jinking runs whilst some deft passing from Levi exploited gaps for others. However it was at this point that the Douglas Valley boys decided to recreate one of the greatest tries of all time. Not the one scored by Les Quirk in 1989 against Widnes. The one scored by the Barbarians against New Zealand in 1973. Joseph started it deep in his own 25. Like Phil Bennett, his dancing feet jinked in all directions at once. He offloaded to Patrick, who like Tom David caught a difficult pass and raced forward. Sensing that Gareth Edwards (Nathan) was inside him he timed the pass beautifully for a dramatic score in the corner. It was the try of the day. The crowd went wild. Wigan ran out deserved winners 4-3.

The final game, again against Littleborough, was another hard fought contest. Our opposition had, by this point, raised the psychological stakes and took to performing a kind of Hakka when lining up in defence. The Wigan boys took it in their stride and shrugged this nonsense off. In fact some of our players joined in. The game saw some excellent performances but none more so than Jamie. His willingness to take the ball into contact was superb. Francis was, again asking questions with his acceleration, whilst Daniel put in a defensive display that will live long in the memory. Levi ran strongly whilst some of the planned moves practiced at the team's new training facility became like second nature. The ball was moved quickly to find the gap for Nathan, then it was walking day in Belfast. T-R-Y time. Some very meticulous refereeing kept the scores down to 3-3.

Another excellent set of team performances.

Man of the match: Jamie

Post match meal: a smorgasbord ( offering the choice of pie, sausage roll or hot dog - the holy grail)