Wheelchair Reserves beat Rhinos in Friendly

• Warriors Reserves beat Leeds Rhinos Reserves in Wheelchair Friendly on Saturday afternoon.
• Toby Burton-Carter crossed for a hat-trick of tries in the 10-try haul.
• FT | Wigan Warriors Wheelchair Reserves 52-8 Leeds Rhinos Wheelchair Reserves.

Wigan Warriors Wheelchair Reserves beat Leeds Rhinos Wheelchair Reserves 52-8 in a curtain raising friendly at Robin Park Leisure Centre on Saturday afternoon.

Toby Burton-Carter opened the scoring for the Reserves with his own converted try. Doubling the score, Mark Williams was the recipient of a delightful Burton-Carter flick pass that allowed him to score in the right corner.

A third score came when Tom Welch crashed through two would be tacklers after receiving a short pass from Dan Dutson. Making it four tries within 15 minutes, Burton-Carter again converted his own try for a 22-0 lead.

With 12 players available, Coach Chris Greenhalgh was able to make wholesale changes and rotate his squad and keep things fresh.

In contrast to the experience within the Warriors squad, the Leeds players are relatively new to Wheelchair RL, but they got a reward for their efforts with a breakaway try midway through the half to make it 22-4.

From here on in, it was almost all one way traffic. Scoring his second, Williams breezed through the defensive line to score under the posts and give Burton-Carter an easy conversion. Adding another, Burton-Carter completed his hat-trick when the Leeds defence was pulled apart to leave a huge gap for him to go through.

Scoring the last try of the half, Dutson was the first to react to a loose ball from a Leeds error to score an easy try. After further changes, Billy Ord was given the kicking duties, but he was unable to add the extras. The score at the break was now 38-4 to Wigan.

The ability within the Cherry & White’s line-up is vast, but the partnership between Welch and Dutson is flourishing more and more each week. It was this that led to the next try, with a kick from Dutson from deep within his own half that was chased down by Welch to make it a brace. With the kicker now being rotated, it was Welch who expertly converted his own try.

Despite being outplayed, the Rhinos did have the odd moment to cheer and it was the next score that gave their travelling supporters a reason to do so. Attacking the Wigan line, the ball was skilfully moved through several pairs of hands before it was touched down in the corner.

Following this moment of joy for the Away side, the Warriors had one on their own. A similar handling move saw Dutson provide debutant Daniel Slobin with the final pass that allowed him to race to the line and score his first ever try in Wheelchair Rugby League. Another kicker tried their luck, but Dutson was unsuccessful on this occasion, which left the score at 48-4 with 10 minutes to play.

Sealing the win, Captain Reece Duddle was the final scorer of the afternoon with an excellent try down the right flank. Having received the ball, Duddle was able to use his chair skills to evade the defender and cross the line to score his first try of the season. As the final whistle blew, the score was 52-8 to the hosts.

Wigan Warriors Reserves: Reece Duddle, Mark Williams, Tom Welch, Toby Burton-Carter, Dan Dutson

Interchanges: Ste Rigby, Leila Hamrang, Billy Ord, Louis Telford, Daniel Slobin, Oliver Steele, Jordan Burns

Tries: Burton-Carter (3), Williams (2), Welch (2), Dutson, Slobin, Duddle

Goals: Burton-Carter (5/6), Ord (0/1), Welch (1/2), Dutson (0/1)

Leeds Rhinos Reserves: Harrison Butler, Finley Butler, Joel Dyer, Charlie Wagstaff, Di Caley, Becci Noble, Lou Harden, Dawn Lennox, Dave Mitch, Ben Coleman

By Stuart Cooke.