Warrington Wolves IMBRL 6
Spring View 48
@ Hood Lane - 17/02/07 - NWC6

Warrington welcomed high flying Spring View to town with a key aim of being competitive against the strong Wigan based side who had inflicted a 56-0 score on IMBRL in the reverse fixture in December.

Having got back in action a fortnight earlier against Southport and Ormskirk the Wolves were ready for their big test and were delighted to bolster their pack with the signing of new prop forward Steve Brown.

However the side lacked the powerful ability of John Williams (broken nose) in the forward unit, whilst scrum-half Karl Case (torn bicep) was also out but this did lead to opportunities for some other squad members.

The Wolves were aware that if they were to be competitive they had to start well and that they did. After both sides had completed their opening sets, IMBRL scored a showpiece try which started deep inside their own half.

A chip over the defensive line by Andy Hawley was collected by Liam O’Brien who returned the ball to Hawley before Dave Heathwood was left to finish off the sensational try under the sticks. Hawley duly obliged with the extras and IMBRL were off to a flyer.

For the remainder of the first-half Warrington tackled like trojans as both packs squared up to each other in a very competitive manner. View tried their best to break the Wolves with their free flowing game but the nature of Warrington’s intense defence kept them at bay for large periods.

However View finally broke the resistance just before half-time with a converted try to leave the game in the balance at 6-6.

During the half-time team talk Warrington remained confident that they could go on and register the shock win of the season but as View turned the screw they began to ship points.

Indeed by the end of the contest View had register 42 unanswered points as IMBRL went from showing their best forty minutes of the campaign to their worst all in the space of a remarkable game.

However the score could and should have looked better had the Wolves managed to keep their defensive effort up for the full eighty minutes, whilst Heathwood, Knight, Holcroft and Nat Ashurst all went within inches of scoring further tries.

The cause was not helped in the second-half either with the sin-binning of full-back O’Brien for holding down, with View subsequently capitalising with the gap at the back of the Warrington defensive line.

Overall it was a tough challenge for the home side who in parts stood up and were counted against the promotion chasers, which all bodes well for the rest of the campaign.

View awarded their man of the match to Nat Ashurst whilst the IMBRL coaching team made special praise of Heathwood and debutant Brown.

Wolves: Liam O'Brien, Tom Mahoney, Dave Heathwood, Jonathan Knight, Andy Mahoney, Andy Hawley, Jon Westwood, Steve Brown, Kyle Holcroft, Neil Ashurst, Danny Elliott, Mark Moore, Nat Ashurst. Subs: Rick Lenihan, Matt Lawton, Paul Arnison, Matt Lister.
Tries: Heathwood.
Goals: Hawley.