WIGAN ST JUDES ARLFC - MATCH REPORT - ROUND UP

1^st Team

A youthful Jude's side earned a narrow victory over a very big Saddleworth Rangers at the Meadow 36-26. It was the Jude's who made the early breakthrough on 10 mins after some great work from the ever improving centre Connor Parkinson when from nothing he shrugged off would be tacklers  to go on a searing run to the corner and score wide out Gareth Thomas slotted over a great goal. The next 15 mins wasn't Jude's best letting in 3 converted tries from Saddleworth taking an 18-6 lead.  With 7 mins of the half remaining the home sides hard work finally paid off with some great work from forwards Tom Owen, Dave Walls, Brett Taberner and Gavin Rodden when MoM Paul Pendlebury dummied his way across then line to find a welcome gap for a great score, Gareth Thomas was successful with conversion to make the halftime score 18-12  to the visitors. However the visitors we're quick to respond early on in the second half with a well worked try. Jude's quickly responded with Paul Pendlebury, Dean Hunt and Joey Brady as they worked their magic creating space for Winger Reece McNally to score wide out, once again the reliable Gareth Thomas obliged with the boot. Full back Darrion Ball put his side ahead on 62mins when Declan Parkinson, Paul Pendlebury and Dean Hunt worked there magic again as the Dazzler shot through a welcome gap leaving the Saddleworth defence bamboozled Gareth Thomas goaled. Once again the visitors would not go away when they scored wide out off a Jude's error with 10 mins to go. Then from another Saddleworth attack which broke down the home were straight on the attack when Saddleworth lost the ball and Full Back Darrion Ball gladly accepted the foot race to the line for a great try Gareth Thomas once again goaled. Jude's kick chase was excellent late on and this set up a grandstand finish and Jude's did everything they could to get over the oppositions line one final time and from a resulting  penalty tap Paul Pendlebury crashed over by the posts Gareth Thomas converted to seal a great win. Judes gave Saddleworth too much ball early on and made silly errors, which just let Saddleworth play really quick in the middle and they were running over Jude's at times but to win this game shows we have it and this young side will get better as the season gathers momentum.

Completion rate…First Half, 55%....Second Half, 59%

Defensive sets….First Half, 16 sets…..Second Half, 15 sets.

Point scores ..Connor Parkinson 1 try, Darrion Ball 2 tries, Paul Pendlebury 2 tries, Reece McNally 1 try. Gareth Thomas 6 goals.

MoM Dean Hunt

Sponsors MoM Paul Pendlebury

Coaching staff…1st Paul Pendlebury

                            2nd Darrion Ball

                            3rd Connor Parkinson

A Team

Burtonwood Bridge 6-24 Wigan St Jude's A

Wigan St Jude's A travelled to Warrington to meet an unbeaten Burtonwood Bridge side challenging for an early season top spot in North West Counties Division 3.

Right from the first whistle, both teams set out to grab an early foothold in the game by dominating the middle of the field. Unforgiving tackles poured in from the St Jude's pack, John Astle, Tye Ford, Alex Pilling, Ryan Ainscough and Dave Fagin leading the way with very strong and un-compromising defence. It was this solid foundation that allowed the visitors to move upfield and post the first points of the game. The ball was shipped through slick hands to the left for centre Adam Lavin, who would be a constant threat all afternoon, to attract several defenders and feed captain Danny Clayton inside who evaded two tacklers defenders to dive over for a well taken try. Rob Collier successfully converted to make it 6-0.

Growing in confidence, Jude's slick interplay began to find several holes in the Burtonwood defence, only to find that their final execution lacking the clinical edge to add further to their lead. It was a neat move from the Burtonwood half- backs and a very well timed run from the full back that would find an unusual space in Jude's defence to go over at the side of the posts that would bring the game level. The remainder of the second half would showcase even more of the excellent defence seen at Jude's this season, new signing Michael Coleman showing up well in his debut and Danny Holmes producing one of the tackles of the match to thwart a line break in the midst of huge defensive stints from a team that has conceded only 40 points in the league. Half Time score 6-6.

Knowing that it was the execution of the final plays that would really make the difference, the St Jude's team started the second half playing much more to a game plan and structure. Moving fluently around the field through half back Simon Meehan a more expansive brand of rugby emerged. It was a great piece of individual skill in front of the Burtonwood line that produced the second try. After great build up play, Stand Off Rob Collier produced a sublime chip over the defence and recollected to score under the posts. A try that he would also convert. The score line was extended by Chris Pimblett , who's tireless work was duly rewarded with a try, following some excellent interchanges of passes the centre emerged on the right side to collect an offload and easily outpace the cover defence to score out wide. Rob Collier again converted.

More direct running from props Liam McMenemy, Luke Barritt and Anthony Wilkinson laid the platform for the next score of the game, working up the left channel and then crisp hands to the right saw yet another Adam Lavin break breach the home side defence, full back Danny Holmes supporting outside, accepted the pass, spun out of two would be tackles and planted the ball down for the last try in 18 unanswered second-half points. Rob Collier completed a faultless display of kicking with a conversion. Full Time 24- 6 taking St Jude's A to the top of the division.

Once more a tremendous team effort from all this youthful team to extend the unbeaten run to five games.  

Man of the Match - Rob Collier with excellent performances from both Adam Lavin and Tye Forde.

Tries - Clayton (1), Collier (1), Pimblett (1), Holmes (1).

Conversions - Collier (4)

Under 16’s

Wigan St Judes58-0 Chorley Panthers 16s

1st Half

Dec Mercer try, converted Gary McMahon 6-0

Lewis Melling try, converted Gary McMahon 12-0

Adam Ford try, not converted 16-0

Gary McMahon try, not converted 20-0

Billy Harris try, converted Gary McMahon 26-0

James McDonnell try, converted 32-0

2nd Half

Claudio Silva De Freitas try, converted Gary McMahon 38-0

James McDonnell try, converted James McDonnell  44-0

Nathan Wilde try, converted Gary McMahon 50-0

Nathan Wilde try, unconverted 54-0

Harry Smith try, unconverted 58-0

Well done to both teams, thank you to Chorley, end of an era!

Awards on the day M.o.M Nathan Wilde, 2nd James McDonnell 3rd Gary McMahon

Under 15’s

Leigh Miners 22-4 St Judes

St Judes crashed out of the NWC cup with a disappointing 22-4 defeat away to Leigh Miners.

Despite a promising first half performance in which St Judes proved themselves to be more than a match for the lively Leigh miners outfit, they can count themselves a tad unlucky not to leading the match at the break, but for two missed opportunities, St Judes ultimately found themselves level at half time 4-4, with the St Judes points coming by way of a well taken Ike Eastwood try.

The second half however was a completely different story. The organisation and team togetherness of the first half had been replaced by ill-discipline and individual masculinity contests. The erratic performance of the match official certainly didn't help their cause and did aid in detracting the St Judes side from their game plan, however at times he did prove to be an equal frustration for both sides.

As the match entered its final third, Leigh miners took control of the game and ran out eventual 22-4 winners, thus denying St Judes the chance of a semi-final tie.

Best for Judes on a disappointing morning were Adam Holt, George Witter, & Daniel Clare.

Under 14’s

Wigan St.Judes 24-14 Folly Lane

Tries: Adam Lavin(1), Lewis Baxter (1), Aaron Pimblett (1), Peter Moore (1), Cameron Rielly (1)

Conversions: Owen Birch (2)

A great performance shown by the lads today, well done boys

Under 13’s

Bury Broncos 12-14 Wigan St Judes

Judes travelled to Bury with 12 players today, so each one knew they had to have a big game. The game started competitively and was 0-0 for a large chunk of the first half. Then Judes managed to get a roll on and Jack burrowed his way over from acting half.  He converted his own try.  Then Judes seemed to fall asleep a little and invited Bury to run onto them for them to score and take the half time score to 4-6.  In the second half both teams made some sloppy errors

and gifted each other possession.  Judes worked up the pitch methodically and managed to go over with Adam in the corner, before Bury scored 2 tries due to some tired defence.  There was then a stop start period with a few scrums, off which Dylan managed to storm round the defence to go in at the corner.  This put Judes back into the lead, a lead which the Judes boys fought hard to keep hold of. They worked tremendously well for each other and deserve all the plaudits today, especially playing with a player less all the way through.

Tries

Jack Akins

Adam Bailey

Dylan Keller

Conversions

Jack Akins

Awards

Captains Award - Owen Melling did exactly what was asked off him, got his body in front and made some tackles today.

Man of the Match - Dylan Keller some great defence, used the touchline as his extra defender and was strong in attack scoring the last try.

Under 12’s

Rochdale Mayfield  4-42 Judes

A wintery day for our trip over to Rochdale and it didn’t help waiting an extra 20 minutes for kick-off awaiting a referee!  This affected Judes the most when Mayfield caught us napping and went over for the first try.  Judes soon pulled their socks up and got a grip of the game, when a kick on the last ricocheted off Mayfield, which Ben pounced on to give Judes an extra set, this wasn’t needed as they spread the ball to Alfie Whittle on the wing who raced over in the corner to make it all square.  Great defence from Judes force Mayfield into touch for the first of the ludicrous scrums throughout the game, with Mayfield’s prop somehow coming away with the ball, but our defence made sure we turned it back over forcing a knock-on.  This time we got the ball away and a good kick on the last was spilled by Mayfield and it gave Judes an extra set to attack the line.  A nice lay off from Lewis, saw Harvey Makin come steaming onto the ball and went booming through the defence to score his first.  After more handling errors from Mayfield and more silly scrums, Judes finally had possession and great hands down the line saw Jamie Derbyshire take the final pass to score in the corner, with a great touch-line conversion from James Richardson.  A decent build up for the last try of the half with the wingers coming in and taking on some of the hard running and a good break from Alfie set the platform for Callum Silcock to run at the line and produce an outrageous dummy which Mayfield bought hook line and sinker, to go bursting through to score a superb try under the sticks.  Another good conversion from James ended the first half 4-22 to Judes.

Judes started the second half in the same vein, easily turning defence in to attack and considering the weather, Judes showed some good handling when moving the ball down the line and Harvey Makin was on hand again to take the final ball and dive over to score his second.  Again Mayfield spill the ball, which was collected by Bradley Hart who started the move and finished it by scoring a try on the final play, bounding over from close range.  The game started to get a bit beefy with some big hits from Judes, but were penalised a couple of times for holding down, it gave Mayfield an opportunity, they looked sure to score with repeat sets, but outstanding defence from Ryan and Harvey J held them up over the line, no way were they getting any more points!  Mayfield were awarded another penalty for holding, but couldn’t capitalise this time and were kicking on the last, which was taken well by Alfie Whittle and returned with interest.  This started the try of the game, which was started and finished off in style by Alfie evading oncoming defenders on the wing and thundering off like a steam train, scoring a cracking try, converted by Callum Silcock.  The final set of the game, saw Ryan Wood spy his chance to get on the board with good footwork to take the ball under the sticks on the final whistle.  Junior Nsemba kicked his first conversion of the season as the game came to a close with a brilliant win 4-42.

Although Mayfield took Judes by surprise in the first minute, Judes reacted well and immediately turned the game in their favour.  Not only do these lads want to win, they don’t want the opposition to score, so put their bodies on the line to prevent this.  Another great team performance, well done lads and keep up the hard work! 

Today’s Awards go to:

Outstanding Efforts:       Massive defence from Harvey Jackson with his try saving tackle, Richard Nsemba with his bone crunchers and Alfie Whittle fantastic in defence and attack scoring the try of the match.

Top Tackler:        Kalan Devine, captain fantastic always leads from the front and massive down the middle.

Man of the Match:          Harvey Makin, his carries, defence and footwork was outstanding today and was always on hand to take the ball up and score.

Under 10’s

Wigan St Judes 28-24 Culcheth Eagles

Our visitors today were a team who has improved greatly in the last few months and have surprised a few teams in our league.  It was the visitors who opened up the scoring before Kian Stanton displayed one of his trademark tries to bring us back level (conversion by Rohan Green).  Once again the visitors took the lead due to an unlucky bounce in our in goal area which Culcheth pounced on.  Judes responded with great interplay between Lewis and Kian, with Kian running 70 yards to score in the left hand corner (conversion also took by Kian).  Culcheth were looking to go over the line again but for a great try saving tackle by Alex Birch, unfortunately on the next play Culcheth scooted over the line to once again take the lead with the half time score being 12-18.

The second half was a repeat of the first with Culcheth extending their lead to 24.  But with the introduction of Declan Boyd and Harry Stokes this seemed to give the lads a boost, the attacking play tempo was upped and Rohan Green went over in the right hand corner (converted by Declan Boyd), bringing Judes within touching distance of catching Culcheth.  The boys got the bit between their teeth and started to play some good rugby.  With 5 minutes to go Max Jones was reintroduced to the line-up and immediately made an impact, breaking through the Culcheth line to go over and Harry Stokes converted to level the game.

Culcheth fumbled the ball after the restart and gave away a penalty for a high shot resulting in Judes gaining good territory to allow Lewis Banks to cross the whitewash in the last seconds of the match.  The final score was 28-24 to Judes.

Good game boys but we need to learn how to get out of the blocks from the first whistle rather than letting other teams take the advantage at the beginning of matches resulting in us having to play catch up.

Man of the Match:  Lewis Banks

Coaches Award:  Joshua Mawdsley

Parents Player Award:  Kian Stanton

Effort and Achievement Award:  Declan Boyd.

There is no game next week due to the Bank Holiday - we have a home game against Rose Bridge the week after.

Under 9’s

Judes 4-3 Westhoughton

Judes entertained Westhoughton on a dull, damp morning.

Judes were again down on numbers due to other things but the players were determined not to let that beat um.  Both sides took the ball end to end, with some great plays from both Judes and Westhoughton. Tackling , from both sides,  was on top form and for a good while the game was a bit of a stale mate with both sides playing some great rugby and both not wanting the others to breach their line . Tries were opened up by Judes but quickly followed with a Westhoughton equalizer, this continued to for most of the game as both teams fought hard to get the advantage.

In the end Judes took the lead and held it but a very determined Westhoughton side kept on coming and never gave up .

All in all a very well ref'd and played game, both sides shaking hands and all had smiles on their faces

Today's try scorers were

Ryleigh

Jack

Harley

Cas

Today's awards went to

M.O.M - Alfie

Parents Award - Jaiden

Most Improved Tackler - Jack

All Round Effort - Fin

Most Improved - Sam

Massive well done to all today, great match to watch

Under 8’s

Crosfields 8-15 st Judes

Judes travelled away to Crosfields in what turned out to be wet ball handling conditions. The conditions didn't worry the boys ball handling today, and ended up being the best attacking display so far this season. The kids where simply outstanding, running riot throughout the whole 40 mins, most pleasing today was seeing the boys let the ball do the work and everyone played for each other resulting in 10 different try scorers, off loads in contact, creating 2 on 1's and reading the opposition defensive line, very very proud coach today, well done boys lovely attacking unselfish rugby by all of the team.

Try scorers:

James Gleeson (3)

Callum Gray (2)

Danny Moran (2)

Dylan Abram (2)

Oliver Banks

Liam Aspinal

Zak Belecki

Luke Brown

Ty Roberts

Cameron Cooper