1st Team

Wigan st Jude's first team made it 3 wins on the bounce in their NCL Div 2 campaign against a very spirited Millom – but it was far from a convincing performance from the Jude's. St Jude's went in front on 5 mins Rob Collier, Rob Fenney , Gavin Rodden and centre Adam Lavin linking well to send Winger Joey Brady in out wide. Lively Millom hit straight back with a clever try from a well worked kick and took the lead. Jude's quickly made up for that when from the restart regained the ball from the resulting scrum and second Rower Josh Rogerson crashed over on the last play. Millom hit right back again with a carbon copy of their first try to take the lead. On 26 mins Man of the Match Full Back Nathan Jones finished off great work  from Rob Fenney and Rob Collier to score a try and put Judes back level. The final 10 mins of the first half belonged to the Visitors with 8 unanswered points to go in at the half 20-12 up. Forwards Tom Owen, Keiron Gaskell, Josh Rogerson, Gavin Rodden and Luke Barrett had all put the hard yards in and Backs Nathan Bevan, Rob Collier and Rob Fenney always involved with shipping the ball out to our strike weapons Lavin and Brady on the left and Parkinson and Rothwell on the right and Nathan Jones slotting in were ever but somehow Jude's were behind. The second was a sporting cliché as it was a half of two halves with Judes gradually taking control with some great rugby at times. 1 min from the restart lively Hooker Nathan Bevan scored  of a clever kick from Rob Fenney plus a bit of juggling to ground the ball, Collier Goaled. Jude's were now growing in confidence and another quick attack saw full back Nathan Jones go in wide out,Rob Collier slotted over the 2 points. Jude's looked hungry and were determined to topple The Cumbrians Millom with forwards Gavin Rodden, Josh Rogerson, Tom Owen, Callum O'Connor,Luke Barrett and Dave Fagan always eager to work and make it hard for the visitors. The final 10 mins was all Jude's, tries by Nathan Bevan prop Tom Owen ( who wasn't going to be stopped when crashing over from close range ) Loose Forward Dave Fagan twisting and turning to score and winger Joey Brady who started the scoring and finished it off for Judes, when Gavin Rodden, Rob Fenney put the winger away for his second try and seal this well deserved win. A great end to the day was later in the changing rooms after the game  the A Team were celebrating their great cup win when all the first team lads went across into their dressing room and joined in with the celebrations Man of the Match…Nathan Jones….3 on the bounce

A Team

Wigan St Judes A v Rochdale Mayfield A

Wigan St Judes A produced a truly magnificent display to move into the Quarter final of the North West Counties Trophy  by defeating the previously unbeaten  and talented Rochdale Mayfield team.The first half was by far the best team performance this season. Forwards, Lewis Barrett, Barry Gregson, Tye Forde, Paul Pendlebury and John Astle directed by captain and Man of the Match Danny Clayton made powerful surging runs and defended superbly, laying a perfect platform for the lightning pace in the backs.

Half backs Dave Carney, Dec Parkinson spread the ball wide on several occasions, finding the devastatingly quick winger Ash Marshall who rounded the opposing winger to sprint 50 metres for a try. Robinson converted to put Judes 6-0 in front. Paul Pendlebury,  returning from injury, looked very sharp and  punched holes in the defence at will. It would be the former Great Britain International who would post the next try evading several defenders to go over at the side of the posts. Robinson converted 12-0.

Ryan Ainscough, added even more strength and attacking power to the team making multiple surges into the line. Judes attacking again through centre Danny Holmes, who took a pass on the left attracted several Rochdale defenders to put flying wingman Ash Marshall in for his second try. Scott Robinson goaled again. 18-0.

Mayfield responded with a try out wide and a very rare lapse in the defence allow the second row to force his way over. 18-4

A brilliant, perfectly weighted grubber kick from stand off Dave Carney found winger Ash Marshall claim the ball and power over for his hat-trick. A penalty kick right on the half time hooter saw Judes go into the break 24-4 up.

The second half was a tough uncompromising encounter, penalties and some ill discipline creeping into the game as frustration built in the visitors. Centre Danny Holmes, full back Richard Gibson  defended magnificently all day, Chris Pimblett, Ben Jones and Darryl King boosted the Judes team in the second half nullifying the waves of attacks from the visitors. In the closing stages with the game at 24-16 centre Scott Robinson intercepted near his own 20 metre line and outpaced (just ) the chasing defenders to post a brilliant try to seal the game. He was too tired to take the conversion, so Darryl King stepped up to slot over a touchline conversion. Final Score 30-16.

In what was an outstanding team performance..

MOM Danny Clayton

2nd Barry Gregson

3rd Ash Marshall / Danny Holmes

Under 15’s

Crosfields 4 - St Jude's 44

Tries: Adam Lavin (2), Peter Moore (2), Owen Birch, Adam Wilde, Lewis Baxter and Miles Roper.

Conversions: Peter Moore (6)

Well done lads a great game and only 12 players, you should be proud of yourselves.

Next match Quarter Final away against Halton

Under 11’s - Golds

Wigan St Judes U11s Golds 42-22 Westhoughton Lions U11s

Well, the kids were extra excited today as we FINALLY had our first Judes kit (Thanks to Lee Jones and his fantastic company, Complete Render Systems). Having played in tshirt and shorts for weeks, the kids could not wait to represent their club in style.

We arrived at Westhoughton just after 10am and as we rolled up, the heavens opened! It poured down on the lads, soaking them through just before kick off - just what you don't need! But nothing would bring the kids down today and they took to the field with high spirits and good attitudes.

Despite a lack of communication from the kick off, Judes fought hard to grab the first points of the match after a huge defensive set saw The Lions crash into touch at the hands of Elton Paplekaj and Austin Daniel. Smart thinking from Scrum Half, Keegan Mobey, saw him take the short side from the scrum and storm down the wing to score, The Lions, having no idea where he came from, could not stop him from coming back inside and placing the ball right under the sticks, converting the try himself 0-6

Urgency in defence and huge hits from The Golds saw Westhoughton knock on early in their following set. Full back, Austin Daniel wasting no time at all and coming across a perfectly staggered line to hit Dylan Gregory with a fantastic inside ball, Dylan fighting hard to land over the white wash after his perfect line running. The Golds second try and Dylan's first ever Judes try! Converted by Austin Daniel

0-12

The Golds seemed to slack off for a few minutes and suffered the consequences, with Westhoughton taking advantage of our loose play and lack of communication, they had levelled the score with 2 quick tries before we knew it! Judes losing their good lead with poor line speed and bunching around the play the ball. With the Lion's kickers on form, we were back level! 12-12

Judes hit back with some hard running and lovely passing controlled by Austin and Keegan. We were back on top of the Westhoughton line quickly and in great position to go over easily, but we never do things easily! Elton spilled the ball, luckily it rolled backwards into the hands of Judes forward, Jake Hare, who powered over the line to start the fight-back! Converted by Dylan Gregory 12-18

The Golds defence was not at its best but we were still managing to prevent the Lions from breaking our line, the wingers working hard with Aron Fleming eating up every runner that dared darken his wing, big hits from forward Josh Webster shaking the Lion's attack and a lot of work in training on try line defence coming in handy with huge tackles from Jake Hare and Elton Paplekaj on our own line, just stopping Westhoughton from reaching over. We worked hard to drive the ball up field only to be pushed to touch just short of the try line. On their second run however, the Westhoughton hooker hesitated at the play the ball (Possibly the presence of huge prop Malachi Price at marker putting him off!) as a result, the ball rolled under the hookers legs from the play and Big Mal saw his opportunity, diving on it and finding the try line once more. Kicked by Elton Paplekaj to go in at half time up by 12: 12-24

A powerful kick by Keegan Mobey from the restart saw the ball ricochet from the Lion's leg straight back into the hands of Malick Niang, Malick ran the ball hard and strong toward the Lion's line being stopped just short, a quick play the ball however caught Westhoughton off guard and Keegan Mobey sent Jake Hare crashing over for his second try of the game. Converted by Aron Fleming 12-30

The Lion's came flying back at us from the restart, passing beautifully along the line and testing our line to the fullest, they looked certain to score with the ball flying through many hands towards the left wing, the movement was read however by our little bullet, Keegan Mobey, who jumped to intercept a swinging ball intended for the Lion's winger. Keegan almost taking off only to be dragged back at the final moment, he had done enough though and within seconds Austin Daniel had found big Mal Price who ran through the Lion's pack, knocking them off and scoring a full lengther under the sticks. Jake Hare adding the two: 12-36

Again our defence wasn't the best, but again the managed to do just enough to keep the Lions out, many of the tackles made on our own try line! We forced the turnover on our own line after some nervy defending! Austin took the ball across the line, showing enough of a dummy to throw the Lions concentration, drawing them all central and creating an open wing, the Lions soon realised this was a terrible mistake, Austin opening his stride and gliding down the wing leaving even the fastest of defenders in his wake to score Judes final try in the right hand corner, converted by Malick Niang

12-42

A little cockiness crept in and we allowed the Lions to take some points at the end that could have been easily avoided, but another fine performance from a developing and new Judes side.

The final score 22-42 to The Judes!

We were really pleased with our kicking game today, both in field and conversions. With all 7 kickers converting their kicks with ease. We were also pleased with a spread of names on the try sheet, 5 different players adding points for their team, rather than repeat names and boring, obvious rugby.

Well done lads!

Josh Webster who still needs to realise how great he is, showing so much heart in defence today. Austin Daniel showed the opposition just what a special talent he is all over the field once more and silent assassins, Malick Niang and Aron Fleming bossing the Lions in defence.

AWARDS:

M.O.M: Aron Fleming and Joshua Webster (shared)

Top Tackler: Malick Niang

Parent's Player: Aron Fleming

Opposition M.O.M: Austin Daniel

Tries:

Malachi Price 2

Jake Hare 2

Keegan Mobey 1

Austin Daniel 1

Dylan Gregory 1

Kicks:

Elton Paplekaj

Dylan Gregory

Keegan Mobey

Austin Daniel

Jake Hare

Malick Niang

Aron Fleming

Under 8’s - Golds

Hindley vs Judes golds u8s

Captain for St Jude's - Gabe Mills

First quarter

The first quarter got off to a great start which saw Mason fend off the defence to score his first try of the match. Jude's held out the opposition for the first set with some strong defending. A good run saw a determined Cody score a great try in the corner. Then a great offload by Hindley saw them get off the mark. Harrison was up next with a try for Jude's with a strong run. Great defence again by Jude's saw them keep Hindley out for the third set of the quarter. Some great offloading and teamwork then created the opportunity for Harrison to score his second try of the match.

Second quarter

Great defence by Isac and Jack Elwick helped to keep the opposition out for the first set of the quarter. This was followed by strong determined running by Deacon, Archie and Aston in the driving rain with resulted in an offload from Aston which helped to set Jack Myers up for a try. Hindley scored a try next, closely followed by a try for Jude's by Kyle. This quarter was rounded off by Hindley scoring again on their last set.

Third quarter

Mason got this quarter off to a great start by scoring his second try of the match. Then Hindley broke through Jude's defence to score another try. This quarter belonged to Deacon as he displayed strong defensive skills and also scored a try with some strong running.

Fourth quarter

Jude's displayed a strong defensive line again at the start of the fourth quarter. Good runs followed by Jack Elwick, Jack Myers, Cody, Harrison and Aston which set up Mason up for his third try. Great tackling by Jack Elwick and Aston helped to keep Hindley out for their first two sets. We then saw what was undoubtedly the try of the match which was a stunning full length try by Jude's captain, Gabe Mills. Hindley scored a try on their last set. The match was rounded off with a great try by Kyle.

Final score

Hindley 20 vs Jude's Golds 44

Try scorers

Gabe

Deacon

Kyle x 2

Jack Myers

Mason  x 3

Cody

Harrison x 2

Trophies

Kyle - most improved

Gabe - parents man of the match

Jack Elwick - opposition man of the match

Mason - coaches man of the match