Warriors Wheelchair win friendly

• Wigan Warriors Wheelchair played their first match in a friendly game against Warrington Wolves.
• Warriors scored 18 tries after three periods in their first hit out in Cherry & White
• FT | Wigan Warriors 100-26 Warrington Wolves.

The inaugural fixture of the newly formed Wigan Warriors Wheelchair team took place on Sunday, as they faced Warrington Wolves at Cardinal Newman High School in Warrington.

Warrington opened the scoring on the day, a reverse kick was caught to be touched down in the corner in the opening two minutes for 4-0 in Warrington’s favour. Wigan quickly levelled through Jack Heggie who chased the ball down from the tee to touch down, D.Roberts converting for 6-4.

Wigan then piled on the points, Phil and Declan Roberts linked up before Mark Williams put in some solid build up play to allow Phil Roberts to get his second of the afternoon under the posts.

Declan Roberts was next on the scoresheet, going on a solo run and adding the skill to go over for his first of the day, converting his own effort he made the score 24-4 to Wigan after 20 minutes.

Both teams were using the ball well, and the slick handling meant the tries just kept on coming. Firstly, charging on to a short pass, Jack Heggie flew through a gap and breezed his way to the line for his second try. Then, Warrington hit back with a converted try of their own, but it was a carbon copy try from Jack that firmly put Wigan back in control.

Having been stopped short of the line earlier in the half, Mark Williams made sure this time as he touched down in the corner. The ball was quickly passed down the line and out to the left wing for Mark to score in acrobatic style. That try and the following conversion took the score to 42-10.

Declan Roberts added to his tally with another barnstorming run that saw him crash through the Wire defence to score a converted try and take his personal tally to 24 points. The final try of the first 40 minutes went to Jack Heggie to bring the first period to an end with a score of 54-10 to the Warriors.

The second period was one-way traffic for Wigan, back to back tries for Declan Roberts put Wigan further in front, the first an excellent interception that saw him sprint almost the full length of the court, and the second another slick pass to put him through a gap.

Despite being involved in a lot of the action so far, Adam Rigby had yet to claim his try, but after 51 minutes he was able to change that. Another try soon followed, and it was Jack Heggie claiming his fifth try of the game. D.Roberts converted both tries to take the score to 76-10 in favour of the Warriors.

On the hour mark, Steve Mort, recently introduced to th action, beat his man and touched the ball down in the corner. Adam Rigby doubled his try tally, converting his own try to make it 86-10 at the end of the 80-minutes.

As a friendly, the sides played a further 30 minutes of action to allow all players to get some good game time. Warrington had never stopped trying during the 80 minutes, and it would be in the final third where they would get their reward. Back to back tries gave them something to work with.

Adam Rigby added two more tries to his haul towards the end of the game. The second of the two tries was a neat runaround move that bamboozled the Wire defence and showed the connection between Adam and Declan when on the court.

An unorthodox overhead pass caught out Wigan as the Wolves went over for an easy try. As we entered the final few minutes, Chris Greenhalgh, playing his first game in nearly 5 years, added another assist, getting the pass to Declan Roberts who rounded off the day with his fifth try and took the final score to 100-26.

Tries: Jack Heggie – 5, Phil Roberts – 2, Declan Roberts – 5, Mark Williams – 1, Adam Rigby – 4, Steve Mort – 1

Conversions: Declan Roberts – 12, Adam Rigby – 1, Jack Heggie – 1

Head Coach, Phil Roberts said: “Pulling on a Wigan shirt today was a proud moment for the whole team, something we’ve talked about a lot, the opportunity and responsibility of being part of the Club.

“This was a great chance for both sides to test out some new combinations, use extended squads, and assess where their preparations are up to ahead of the season. We’re grateful to Warrington for hosting the match.”

He added: “We looked a little rushed at times in our attack, leading to a lack of precision but we played some nice instinctive rugby to capitalize on the opportunities that we created. Defensively, we looked solid overall and although some unforced errors saw us defending our line for periods, we did it well. Overall, there were many positives to take from today, including knowing what we need to work on to tighten up our performance. Bring on the season!”

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