WHITEHAVEN 14

WIGAN WARRIORS 22

The youthful Wigan Warriors side overturned an eight-point deficit to take the spoils in West Cumbria.

The visitors seemed to grow into the game as it progressed and four second-half tries showed we may see some of these youngsters break in to Matty Peet’s first time plans.

It was the home side who got the opening score of the game following back to back sets following a charged down kick which allowed Chris Taylor to finish a left-to-right overlap and score in the corner. Sam Freeman couldn’t convert.

Haven came close to scoring their second try soon after as Karl Dixon looked to get on the end of a grubber kick from Alex Bishop. Haven captain Dixon couldn’t grab hold of the ball cleanly and was judged to have lost the ball short of the line.

The home side continued to have opportunities through a Lachlan Lanskey break and a sidestep from Jamie Doran opened the door but the Championship side couldn’t convert the opportunities.

The did add to their points tally on the half hour mark however as on a kick return Sam Freeman made a break which saw him brought down 40 metres away from the visitors try line. At the end of the resulting set the ball was swung from right to left and Dixon threw a dummy which exposed a gap in the defence to touch down. Freeman once again couldn’t add the extras.

The young warriors had the last opportunity of the first half but the pass from Richards Nsemba looking for Zach Eckersley was ruled forward by the official.

The second half was a different story as Haven seemed to lose momentum following changes across the spine and the visitors took full advantage.

Following a penalty for a high tackle both side were reduced to 12 men temporarily as Jorge Cabral and Logan Astley were sent to the sin-bin. The Warriors got the penalty and scored from the resulting set as Jacob Kilner-Douglas touched down in the corner following exploiting an overlap. Zach Eckersley converted.

Logan Astley returned from the sin-bin and made an immediate impact supporting a Kilner-Douglas break and the half back was on the speedy winger’s shoulder to accept the pass and touch down. Eckersley couldn’t convert on this occasion but the visitors had taken the lead.

The lead lasted short of 10 minutes as Jamie Doran playing against his first club fooled the defence with a show and go and touched down next to the posts. Josh Rourke converted from right in front.

The momentum continued to be with the visitors however and two tries in three minutes was enough to grab the victory.

Logan Astley was the scorer of the first of them crossing for his second of the match as he touched down his own chip and chase. This was soon followed by Alex Sutton as the centre was on the end of a well-worked passing move to leave the Haven defence at sixes and sevens. Eckersley converted both tries.

WHITEHAVEN 1 Sam Freeman, 2 Dave Eccleston, 3 Chris Taylor, 6 Karl Dixon, 4 Curtis Teare, 14 Jamie Doran, 7 Alex Bishop, 22 Lucas Castle, 21 Marcus O’Brien, 24 Dan Spencer-Tonks, 11 Connor Holliday, 12 Lachlan Lanskey, 18 Perry Singleton. Subs: 8 Liam McAvoy, 13 Dion Aiye, 19 Jorge Cabral, 20 Jake Bradley, 23 Josh Rourke, 26 Lewis Fairhurst, 28 Ross Ainley, 29 John Hutchings.

Tries: Taylor (3), Dixon (30), Doran (64). Goals: Freeman 0/2, Rourke 1/1.

WIGAN WARRIORS 1 Reagan Sumner, 2 Thomas Mitchell, 3 Alex Surtton, 4 Zach Eckersley, 5 Jacob Kilner-Douglas, 6 Kieran Tyrer, 7 Logan Astley, 8 Harvie Hill, 9 Tom Forber, 10 Ramon Silva, 11 Richards Nsemba, 12 Finley Beardsworth, 13 Harvey Wilson. Subs: 14 Thomas Ratchford, 15 Ellis Hobson, 20 Adam Jones, 17 Ryan Brown, 21 Nathan Low, 19 Kian McDermott, 16 Dylan Kelly-Duffy.

Tries: Astley 2 (55,71), Kilner-Douglas (46), Sutton (74). Goals: Eckersley 3/4.

Penalty count: 4-8

Half-time: 8-0

Referee: Ryan Cox.