Wigan 34 - 10 Garstang

Wigan welcomed Garstang to Douglas Valley this past weekend, looking to avenge their early season defeat in the Lancashire cup competition. Both sides entered the weekend with enviable league form and the top of the table clash was highly anticipated by both players and fans alike.

Garstang continued where they left off in the previous encounter, after having fought their way into Wigan’s 22 they played the ball out wide right to go over for the opening score.

Garstang once again worked themselves into good position with a kick into the Wigan 22. Wigan won the lineout and set up to clear the ball downfield. However, Chris Carr had other ideas. Carr took the ball deep in the 22 and spotted a gap down the narrow blind side. He made a 20 yard break, leaving defenders in his wake before finding Matt Cuthbert in support. Cuthbert made good ground and put Wigan within the Garstang half before being brought down. The ball was recycled quickly and played out wide to the left hand side where Luke Sutcliffe ran over the top of the fullback to go in for a score under the posts. Danny Cassidy added the conversion.

Wigan made full use of the momentum and continued to press the advantage. Having worked onto the edge of the Garstang 22, Wigan looked to spread the ball wide left. Danny Cassidy looked for support before throwing a dummy which opened up the defence in front of him. Cassidy went over under the sticks and added a conversion to his score to give Wigan a 14-5 lead.

There was one further score before the half as some Garstang indiscipline gave Wigan a shot at goal and Cassidy duly slotted over the penalty to take the score to 17-5 at half time.

As the second half commenced, conditions worsened, and the wet weather was in danger of causing the game to become a tight affair. Wigan eventually broke the stalemate after getting close to the Garstang line, Captain, Harry Barker forced the ball over for a third score for the home side. Cassidy added the conversion.

Garstang threatened a comeback when a penalty was taken quickly and caught Wigan off guard. The ball was worked down the left side and taken over to being the scores to 24-10 and gave Garstang a faint glimmer of hope.

Those hopes were soon dashed as Wigan once again took it deep into enemy territory. With the ball worked out wide, Chris Carr put a speculative grubber kick into the corner and Cuthbert was on hand to gather and dive over the line.

With the game in its dying moments, Wigan had a scrum on the edge of their own 22. Any thoughts of running the clock down were banished as the ball was played out to Danny Cassidy who side stepped his man on the inside and made a break through the midfield. Cassidy took it close to the opposition 22 before he was closed down and sprayed the ball out wide to Luke Sutcliffe in support. Sutcliffe dummied his man and sent him sprawling but turned his own ankle in the process before hobbling over the line to score in the corner to finish the game 34-10.