Wigan St Cuthberts "A" 8
Warrington Wolves IMBRL 34
@ JJB Soccer Dome, Wigan - 30/09/06 - NWC6

Ahead of a much anticipated tie against Newton Storm, Warrington IMBRL recorded a superb away day victory at Wigan St Cuthberts in a very physical contest.

IMBRL were only able to travel with 15 fit players as the Super League clash between Bradford and Warrington took priority for a number of the squad. With strike players Stephen Lenihan, Liam O'Brien and Karl Case all unavailable it looked as though the Wolves would be a threadbare outfit.

Indeed in the build up to the contest coaching duo Paul Arnison and Mark Moore had looked at a range of options. As it was IMBRL went with an extra forward at scrum-half, whilst the four bench players from the West Bank game; Jon Westwood, John Williams, Keith Ryan and Mark Moore all came into the starting thirteen. Tom Mahoney (wing) and John Spreadbury (bench) also came back into the squad.

The Wolves had gone into the contest aiming to keep things simple with set completions and a good kick and chase game the high priority. The tactics were to prove a masterstroke as from the first moment, Warrington's extra forward power began to tell.

Indeed during a fine first forty minutes the Wolves again showed their defensive dominance as they conceded just four points whilst at the other end tries by Mark Moore, Paul Arnison and Jonathan Knight (a fine brace) plus three Andy Hawley goals gave the visitors a 4-22 interval lead.

With St Cuthberts coming down the hill in the second-half the Wolves were expecting a fierce response and an early try for the home side looked to have given them hope. However the Wolves remained calm and scores from Dave Heathwood and Hawley who goaled both gave IMBRL an unassailable lead.

As the Wigan side lost their cool in the final stages, they finished the game with just ten men following a dismissal and two sin-binnings. The sending off coming after the St Cuthberts prop had launched a tirade of unprovoked punches on Wolves workhorse Neil Ashurst. Luckily the Wolves didn’t respond to the foul play and were left to celebrate a second fine away day victory of the campaign.

Man of the match for Warrington was full-back Mick Austin whose control from the full-back position gave the Wolves a great platform.

Wolves
1) Mike Austin
2) Tom Mahoney
3) Dave Heathwood (1 try)
4) Jonathan Knight (2 tries)
5) Rick Lenihan
6) Andy Hawley (1 try, 5 goals)
7) Jon Westwood
8) Keith Ryan
9) Mark Moore (1 try)
10) Neil Ashurst
11) John Williams
12) Danny Elliott
13) Nat Ashurst
Subs:
14) John Spreadbury
15) Paul Arnison (1 try)
16) Matt Lawton (not used)