Tough Battle For Wolves U18s
Bradford Bulls 36 Warrington Wolves 26
Wolves u18s made a short trip across the Pennines to play opponents Bradford Bulls at the weekend. On a perfect day for rugby and on a near perfect pitch, the Wolves were soon in trouble when the Bulls scored after just four minutes play through left centre Hawthorne.
It was a full 12 minuteswhen very lethargic Wolves first troubled the Bulls' try line but a deft grubber kick from Bobby Goulding ran dead in goal. Bradford prop Liam Mc Avoy made light of very poor Wolves' defending by walking through two attempted tackles to score under the post Conversion by Helliwell.
It took Wolves 25 minutes to get on the score board when Gavin Bennion burst the line and found James Saltonstall on his shoulder for James to cross for a try wide out on the right, Bobby Goulding converted to make the score 10-6 to the Bulls.After 29 minutes Wolves went ahead for the first time when Ryan Shaw stole the ball in a one-on-one tackle to score easily Goulding converting to make the score Bulls 10 v Wolves 12.
Bradford then sprang to play their best spell of football with hooker Wright outstanding and the Bradford Pack totally out enthusing and out muscling their Wolves counterparts. During this 10 minute spell before half time Helliwell crossed twice converting both his tries. Just before half time outstanding hooker Wright scooted UN opposed from 15 metres through some very weak wolves defending.
The second half started of much the same as the first with Bulls full back Helliwell completing a great 40-20 to put Wolves on the back foot in the 42nd minute. However Wolves defended their line well for a full 10 minutes. Bradford broke the deadlock when right-winger Williamson crossed in the corner taking the score to 30-12. On 55 minutes Wolves' hooker Brad Dwyer ploughed over with Rowland converting 30-18 to the Bulls.
Wolves rallied briefly and were on the score sheet again after 62 minutes with the ball traveling through six pairs of hands for Shaw to score the try of the Match 30-22 in Bulls Favour. After 65 minutes Shaw completed his hat trick brilliantly plucking the ball out of the air from 3ft above his head to dive over in the corner. 30-26 to the Bulls. Playing catch-up rugby the Wolves had left themselves too much to do and left wing Hawksworth took the game out of reach and with Helliwell converting the score ended Bulls 36-Wolves 26.
Wolves' coach Gary Chambers not pleased with his sides defence promised the lads they faced a hard week at training to correct poor execution in both attack and defence. Outstanding for Bulls was Hooker Wright who had too much pace from AHB for a lapsed Wolves defence. Best for wolves were Ryan Shaw scoring a Hat Trick despite lacking early ball from centre field and having to graft really hard to create space for himself. Also there was a very much-improved performance from Glen Riley. Special mention to Jordan Burke who was outstanding in both attack and defence alternating in several positions equally well.
Wolves
Burke, Ormsby, Beckett, Shaw, Wilson, Brierley, Goulding, Brennan, Dwyer, Riley, Saltonstall, Bennion, Currie, Giles, Smith, Holland, Rowland
Bulls
Helliwell, Williamson, Ward, Hawthorne, Hawksworth, Storey, Spencer, Lillycrop, Wright, Stanley, Bailey, Cockerham, Murphy, Carter, McAvoy, Lancaster, Marchant
By Peter Farrell
07, Sep, 2010
