Northwich 0

Wigan 20

RFU Cheshire/South LAncs One

Saturday, November 25

NORTHWICH came out of Saturday's encounter with blank looks on their faces. Small wonder when you consider that they didn't put a point on the board and finished with none to add to their league tally.

Even so, Wigan went home feeling very fortunate, as for long periods of the match they were camped on their own line.

In fact, home scrum half Mike Gallimore and number eight Dean Thompson both crossed it, only to be held up. But, at the end of the day, near misses count for exactly what Northwich got - nothing.

Once again, heavy rain made the first team pitch unplayable so the action took place on the outside pitch, but even this cut up within minutes of the kick-off, making handling and fleetness of foot very difficult.

The first 20 minutes passed without incident or points as both packs slogged it out. Northwich were missing props Rob Birtles and Jan Cartman, but Andy Cornes and second team skipper Jes Gough both did well in the pack alongside outstanding hooker Simon Grant.

The opening try came from simple linking of the ball from a scrum in a central position and Northwich were outflanked as Wigan crossed the line in the corner. Not surprisingly, the conversion attempt failed, as did kicks from all of the three tries which followed.

Wigan maintained their five point advantage at the interval but had to withstand 15 minutes of non-stop pressure to do so. Grant and Thompson were ably assisted by lock Dave Briggs and flanker Gary Evans featured prominently, but they could not breach the visitors' defence.

With Northwich's battering ram tactics thwarted, the situation called for flying wingers Dominic Shaw and Chris Caulfield to be brought into the game, but indecision in midfield starved them of possession and, hence, scoring opportunities.

The try that killed off the game followed another spell of Northwich pressure which failed to yield points, the Wigan scrum half making a break for the corner and scoring. The defenders thought he had hit the corner flag before touching down, but the referee disagreed and awarded another five points.

Northwich never recovered and it was no surprise when Wigan added a third through a good handling move and a less impressive fourth, winning the chase to a hacked ball.

Coach Andy Manicom received no reward from his players for his impressive training sessions and, even worse, they couldn't give him a result to celebrate his birthday.

This Sunday, Northwich have a Cheshire Cup tie at home to Sandbach (2.15pm).

THE 2nd XV also failed to score in their game at Wigan, going down 5-0. This Saturday, the 2nds and 3rds are at home to Altrincham Kersal.