Warriors Wheelchair win again

[josie andrews]

Match report as Wigan Warriors Wheelchair beat Warrington Wolves.

Warriors scored 148 points to make it two from two in the Betfred Wheelchair Super League.

FT | Wigan Warriors 148-18 Warrington Wolves.

Wigan Warriors Wheelchair came away with an emphatic win on Saturday afternoon as they posted 148 points on Warrington Wolves to make it two wins from two in Betfred Wheelchair Super League.

Wigan were relentless in the first half as they were one way traffic on the court, running up a 78-12 lead before the half time break.

The second half was almost a carbon copy of the first as the Cherry & Whites limited Warrington’s time on the ball and touched down numerous times to rack up a full time score of 148-18, making the Warriors unbeaten in their opening two games.

Report

Opening up an 18-0 lead within just 6 minutes, Wigan touched down through Declan Roberts, Matt Wooloff, and Adam Rigby. Warrington hit back through Toby Burton Carter as the Warriors defence was exposed with an overlap. Lenny Izzard converted the try to narrow the gap.

Next up, Chris Greenhalgh was able to score after a cut out pass from Declan Roberts, but the Wolves were quick to reply, again through Burton Carter, as a left to right spread play gave him enough space to score in the corner. With all 6 conversions successful in the opening 20 minutes, the score now stood at 24-12 to the Warriors.

For the second 20 minutes of the half, it was all one-way traffic, Wigan had clicked fully into gear and weren’t going to let up. Three tries in three minutes from Wooloff, Rigby and Declan Roberts extended the lead, before Rigby completed his hat trick to make the score 48-12.

Coming off the interchange bench, Martin Norris was quickly into the action with a try in the corner. Following that, his breakaway down the right touchline helped set up Jack Heggie to score under the posts. Also off the bench, Mark Williams was there to benefit after a last tackle play by Wigan allowed him to score in the right corner, Declan Roberts the provider of the final pass.

As we entered the last few minutes of the half, and having brought himself onto the court earlier, Head Coach, Phil Roberts, weighed in with back to back tries to really give Wigan the advantage with a half time score of 78-12.

After the turnaround, things continued in the same vein for Wigan as Declan Roberts scored his third of the game as he went in to score on after a neat switch play by Phil Roberts and Martin Norris.

Not wanting to be left out, Nathan Roberts was next to register back to back tries. The first came after the ball went through hands across the court and put Nathan in at the corner, and the second saw him chase down a kick, pick up the loose ball, and then show great strength to get across the line despite a shirt grab by the Wolves defender.

The next try would make it 100 points for Wigan, Mark Williams put in for his second try by Declan Roberts, who also slotted over the conversion to make it 102-12 with 50 minutes gone.

With both father and brother already scoring back to back tries, Declan Roberts was next to do the same. A crash ball saw Roberts score try number 4, and then chasing down a Martin Norris kick saw him make it 5 for the afternoon. Making it 19 successful conversions from 19 attempts, Declan put the score at 114-12 before taking a well earned rest on the sidelines.

Having missed the game against London Roosters, Jack Heggie was making his competitive debut for the Warriors and was on hand to set up the next two tries. After dummying an inside pass, Heggie set Williams away for his hat trick and then supplied fellow debutant, Shaun Gash, with a try in the right corner.

Adam Rigby showed great pace down the left wing to out sprint the covering defence and score, followed by Heggie throwing a ‘round the corner pass’ as he reached through the defensive line to release Williams. Both Rigby and Williams were scoring their fourth tries of the game.

Becoming the seventh Wigan player to bag more than one try in the game, Shaun Gash doubled his tally on the back of yet more excellent handling. With Declan Roberts off the court, we had now seen 3 different kickers but only 2 successful conversions from the last 5 tries. The score was now 138-12 in favour of the Cherry & Whites.

In the final 10 minutes, Warrington were able to add a consolation try, with Burton Carter scoring his third try and Izzard adding the extras but rapid passing by Wigan left the Warrington defence reeling before Shaun Gash through an out the back pass to allow Wooloff to become the fifth player in the game to score a hat trick.

Capping off the scoring, Norris scored his second of the game after a pass from Phil Roberts. Phil added the conversion to make the final score 148-18 to the Warriors.

Wigan Warriors: Chris Greenhalgh, Jack Heggie, Declan Roberts, Adam Rigby, Matt Wooloff

Subs: Martin Norris, Nathan Roberts, Phil Roberts, Mark Williams, Shaun Gash

Tries: Declan Roberts (5), Matt Wooloff (3), Adam Rigby (4), Chris Greenhalgh, Martin Norris (2), Jack Heggie, Mark Williams (4), Phil Roberts (2), Nathan Roberts (2), Shaun Gash (2)

Goals: Declan Roberts 19/19, Adam Rigby 1/2, Mark Williams 1/2, Phil Roberts 1/1, Jack Heggie 0/1, Matt Wooloff 0/1

Warrington: Toby Burton Carter, Lenny Izzard, Paul Southall, Paul Prince, Dan Phillips

Subs: Amy Griffiths

Tries: Toby Burton Carter (3)

Goals: Lenny Izzard 3/3

After the game, Wigan Warriors Head Coach Phil Roberts said: “I was really pleased today with the way in which our team stuck to their processes and played a good mix of eyes-up rugby and structure. We were able to achieve plenty of rotation and game time for some less experienced players, played to the whistle, and barring a few lapses, stuck firmly to the task in hand. We face a stiff test at Halifax in Round 3 and will be working hard to make sure we’re ready”.

Next up for Wigan Warriors Wheelchair, it’s their first away day of the Super League season as they travel to Calderdale College to face Halifax Panthers on Sunday 27th March, 3pm kick off.

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2022/03/ ... win-again/