Match Report – David Clegg
Playing into the teeth of a mini-gale, during the first half, the Salford Red Devils U19s found the twenty-four point half-time deficit too great a gap to bridge, once they eventually turned round and had the elements favouring them. They certainly had a good attempt at doing so, and indeed pulled the 30 points to 6 half time score back to 30-22, with twenty minutes of the game still remaining.
The combined strength of the wind, and the Warrington forwards, however, had sapped a considerable amount of their energy, and two further tries in the in the last ten minutes sealed the win for the visiting Wolves.
Understandably, in such adverse conditions, the game, as a spectacle, suffered, as both teams struggled to handle the ball, and errors throughout were plentiful, though most prolific in the early stages as the teams endeavoured to adjust to the difficulties.
It was, in fact, on the back of five consecutive, shared errors that Warrington were able to open the scoring. Having used the wind to establish strong field position, they managed to put a few successful passes together to exploit space out on the right wing with a converted try, on 9 mins.
When they were able to get to the opposite end of the field, Salford showed they were capable of putting the Wolves under pressure themselves, and prop Chris Worrall was unlucky to be held up on the line, some five minutes later. Another wayward pass, however, gave the visitors possession once more and they progressed down field, and then, with the aid of a penalty, turned good position into points, to double their lead, on 17 mins.
The Red Devils did eventually, get on the score sheet, on 23 mins, when, following yet another player, Harry Madders, being held up over the line, co-centre, Ben Calland, latched onto a kick-in-goal, under the posts. Aaron Moore had no problem with the simple conversion. Hopes that this might have heralded something of a turning point in the game proved to be unfounded, however, and the Wolves exploited the tiring Salford defence with three further tries before half time.
With the wind at their backs in the second half, the Salford players found life somewhat easier, and they quickly set about eroding that quite commanding Warrington lead. It was that trademark, Aaron Moore ‘show and go’, which twice did the trick from close in, first to the left of the posts on 53 minutes, and then to the right, three minutes later. With his adding the goal on each occasion, the score was now 30-18, and tails were up.
Then, when stand-off Jon Whittaker, on 20 mins, skipped along the Wolves line, evading tackles, towards the left, he took advantage of the advancing Warrington defence to put in a delicate kick to the corner, which was pounced upon by speedy winger Elliott Caine, too far out for Moore to convert.
Sadly, that was as close as the home side were going to come, and two further converted Wolves’ tries, both set up through penalties conceded by the Devils, saw the visitors home.
Warrington Scorers:
Tries – Harvey Livett (3), Jack Fox (2), Declan Kay, Ellis Gillan
Goals – Morgan Smith (7)
