What's happened to the 19s got thumped 72-6

It was one of those games where one side (Wigan) were error free for 90% of the game whilst Wire made quite a few. Wigans pace and handling then was just too much for them

Well I don't envy Dave Whalley writing this one up, and Lee Briers may wish to leave it a day or two before he adds his comments as well. The young Wires were thrashed 72-6 at Orrel today conceding 13 tries. I think we only had 2-3 attacking plays in the whole match and spent only 3-4 minutes in the Wigan 20m during the first half.

As Rogues pointed out, they certainly made quite a few errors, but I don't think that was the main problem. Wigan were much more physical in the tackle, both going forward and defending. Our ball carrier invariably ended up on his back - from which we got very slow ptb. Ironically the player that showed the most urgency to get back up was David Foggin-Johnson who is probably our smallest - so it is a skill that can be learnt and applied by all. Wigan also were very disciplined with their defensive line and kept their shape. Their line also moved forward to meet our ball carrier whilst ours invariably stood still and waited for them. Their last tackle kicker (in the first half) could probably have had a brew and a read of the newspaper before making his down-field kick (or bomb to the corner) - he was just not pressurised at all. Finally, the Wigan ball carrier attracted support and hence passing options whilst we invariably lacked any. So it was not surprising that we conceded by such a big margin, we would have lost even if we had made no errors at all.

So who had a decent game ? Well, the kicking of Morgan Smith was pretty good, it has steadily improved all season and he now looks a lot more assured. As per usual Daniel Murray and Sam Wilde made good yards with the ball in hand and James Jones also worked hard. Pat Moran had some decent runs and Bob Holroyd sewed up the mid field defence. Jack Jones and Harvey Livett were very quiet and the new SO Avignon hooker Veve had a steady but unspectacular game, getting through a lot of tackling.

I am not sure how may 1st years Wigan fielded ( we had seven), but it was not a day for the scrapbook I am afraid.

I didn't go but did get a report from one of the Wigan players parents and he said the halfbacks were totally anonymous, the pack was pedestrian and the Wigan team looked fitter, faster and more 'brutal' in most positions (his words).

However on the other hand you would have to say that Wigan this year do look clearly stronger than most teams,

Maybe we are just trying to copy the first team model throughout the age groups.

Poor display all-round not just from a couple of individuals, but these things happen to all teams from time to time. It is how you react to it that shows what you are made of. Match Report here: warringtonwolves.com/heavy-derby ... -u19s-8055

Poor display all-round not just from a couple of individuals, but these things happen to all teams from time to time. It is how you react to it that shows what you are made of. Match Report here: warringtonwolves.com/heavy-derby ... -u19s-8055