Players - Connor, Patrick H, Daniel, Nathan, Levi, George, Jamie, Patrick, Francis, Brandan, James
Weather - overcast, easterly breeze, 50% chance of rain
Pitch conditions - Artificial

The Wigan outfit travelled to God's Own Country in confident mood after some good recent performances. However, this confidence was somewhat misplaced as they served up a Curate's Egg of a performance on the the 3G turf of West Park.
Like a French team from the 1980's, it is becoming impossible to second guess which team might turn up on a Sunday morning. But like a French team, their devastating strike power often retrieves a lost cause.

The first game started with a handling error and went downhill from there. Time after time the ball went to ground or passes were slung carelessly into thin air. The introduction of Nathan brought some semblance of sanity as he found his range with an early try. George and Connor backed up this good work with well deserved tries. Indeed Connor shone brightly amidst some indifferent play as he constantly proved a threat. Daniel and Brandan began to get in on the act and were rewarded with tries.

It was a good thing that there were no tea cups to hand for Coach Butler's half time talk. He got out the proverbial " hair dryer" and some home truths were said. This seemed to have some effect as the second half was slightly better. It couldn't have been worse. The boys put in a more solid tagging shift and started to pass the ball with greater accuracy. This better effort in defence led to the result being a creditable 10-9 defeat.

There was some soul searching done between matches and the performance in the second game was much better. The error rate went down as did Coach Butler's heart-rate (which in the first game had soared into the red zone). Passes were crisper, gaps were being found and players like Patrick H, Levi and Francis started to show the skills that the crowd had paid to see. Newer members of the team like Patrick and James started to gel and Wigan looked a better team.

All action tyro Brandan continued to run dangerously and always wanted to be in the game. Nathan used his pace and power to good effect to score another two tries. Daniel galloped over to keep up his excellent try scoring efforts. Yet, once again it was Connor that stood out. Revelling in the responsibility of captaincy,he kept going. Controlling midfield with has devastating pace off the mark and his wonderful anticipation of the break down.

After the match, Coach Butler looked a shadow of his former self. A husk of a man, broken by the vicissitudes of mini rugby. Elated by the fact that somehow Wigan had managed to win 19-18 over the two matches, but at a loss to explain how. But, as the great Jacques Fouroux once said to me "il n'y en a pas du texte". Which means " don't worry how you won; as long as you did. Especially when you're playing a team from St.Helens".

Man of the match - Connor

Post match meal - chips and sausage.

Wigan RUFC

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