Wigan travelled to the Peak District this weekend to face Bakewell Mannerians in the first round of the Counties National cup competition. The competition sees teams from across the country matched up with teams from other regions, playing in a straight knock out competition, with the final held at Twickenham on 12th May.

Wigan made use of the ball early on and threatened the Bakewell line on half a dozen occasions but the Derbyshire side were steadfast in their defence and used the cannon like boot of their outside half to clear the ball repeatedly. The deadlock was only broken 20 minutes into the game when, against the run of play, Bakewell made a good break down the right wing, before recycling the ball out left. The winger cut inside the Wigan defence and opened the scoring for a 7-0 lead.

The game restarted and Wigan had Bakewell pinned down in their own half. Great work at the breakdown by the Wigan pack turned the ball over and the it found it’s way to young fullback, Nathan Butler, who jinked and stepped his way through the Bakewell defence to bring the score to 7-5.

The sides were evenly matched in every department and it wasn’t until the dying moments of the first half that Wigan broke the deadlock. Bakewell looked to use the giant boot of their outside half one time too many and the kick was charged down. Jack Dugdale was quickest to react and fly hacked the loose ball through the 22 before diving on for the try. Parker added the conversion and the sides went in 7-12 at half time.

After the break, Wigan continued in the ascendancy. Wigan were in good territory, 30 yards out when Joss Parker took the ball on. The outside half seemed to stutter and the sleight of hand seemed to make the defence slip the wrong way. Parker passed inside to second row, Adam Pierce who burst through the defence to score from 25 yards out. Parker added the conversion to give Wigan a 7-19 lead.

Bakewell soon hit back with a try of their own. A good move down the Wigan flank saw the right winger pivot outside his opposite man and he dived over for the try which was ably converted.

With the scores at 14-19 and Wigan down to 14 men due to a sin binning for a no arms tackle, there were some nerves for the away support. Chris Carr settled things somewhat, filling in at outside half he make a break on half way that beat 4 men and the fullback to go over by himself. Carr added the conversion to give Wigan a 14-26 lead.

With Wigan running down the clock, a moment of indiscretion gave Bakewell a penalty in good position. Their outside half took a quick tap and dived over before quickly converting his own try to bring the scores to 21-26 with just 3 minutes remaining.

Despite their best efforts, Bakewell couldn’t make up the ground needed and the match ended with a Wigan victory and the cherry on top was the reward of a home tie against Garstang, this Saturday the 20th April.