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WIGAN ST JUDES - Under 15'S |
| 7th March 2010 |
| ST JUDE’S UNDER 15’S 0- 54 LATCHFORD UNICORNS Wakefield coach John Kear said his side had been “lucky to get nil” after his lads had been steamrollered by Huddersfield on Saturday night. This home clash with an impressive table topping Latchford outfit ended in a similar scoreline, but at least six Jude’s players left their field with heads held high after giving everything they had from start to finish against opponents who had strength and skill all across the line. Tom Whittle turned in a lion hearted display on attack and defence with none of the negativity which had crept into a couple of recent efforts, while Henry Hitchen combined a series of powerful runs down the middle with a typically gutsy tackling stint. Danny Kilroy backed up his front row partner with an equally muscular effort, while Dec O’Neil showed tidy distribution skills and chipped in with eager tackling against a forward pack who came through strong and hard throughout. Breaking through that pack was never going to be easy for the backs, but Luke Farrow refused to be daunted by the task and enjoyed one of his best games of the season with a series of strong tackles and some cute passing and kicking. Adam Downing showed flashes of his potential going forward and can do better yet with a shade more confidence, while James Beattie grew in stature as the game progressed on his return from a break. All in all a frustrating day, but the ball retention was good under pressure and St Jude’s will reap dividends if they can repeat it and continue to move the play wide in the final games of the campaign. Coach Whitfield was frustrated that some missed tackles undermined a lot of good work, but the main talking point as a big crowd dissected the game afterwards revolved around an incident which took place in the opening minutes when Farrow popped a clever chip over the try line only for Whittle to knock on under pressure. A clean catch and the subsequent conversion would have taken St Jude’s 6-0 ahead with just 48 minutes remaining – and Latchford surely wouldn’t have been able to come back from that sort of deficit! |