WIDNES SCHOOLS ROUND-UP

Widnes u13 28 Hull u13 12

WIDNES started very well and after only five minutes a clever kick from Adam Gill saw Robert Smith take full advantage to race in and score. This try was converted by David Noone.

However, poor defending in the face of an admittedly strong Hull driving resulted in Hull taking full advantage to secure a try in the corner.

This seemed to be the scare that Widnes needed as from the restart they put pressure on the Hull defence and the Yorkshire lads had no answer to the excellent running of Daniel Smith as he went 30 metres for a well-deserved try.

This Smith try seemed to add steel to the Widnes defence and they were able to soak up some quite sustained Hull pressure which then began to dishearten the visitors.

So much so that David Esposito was able to score a fine individual try which Noone converted and we sat back expecting Widnes to press home their advantage.

Unfortunately the Widnes players also sat back and the inevitable happened, with poor tackling once again allowing Hull to score another unconverted try to give them hope once more.

During the half-time interval Widnes pulled themselves together again and started brightly playing down the slope.

It was only a matter of time before the opponents' line was breached, and some good approach work by David Noone, Scott Myler and Adam Gill saw Ryan Millington go over next to the posts, again Noone converted.

All credit to the Hull side who never gave up and in fact they scored a late try.

However, Widnes were not to be outdone, and had the final say when Daniel Smith went in at the corner courtesy of Ryan Millington.

Under 11 League

St Helens u11 24 Widnes u11 16

IN VIEW of the hard work of the Widnes boys since the opening defeat of the season and because of the recent progress made, this result must be seen as a disappointment.

Connections with the Widnes Schools have raised their expectations of the Under 11s and with 10 points on the board in the first six minutes without reply seemed to indicate that these expectations were not misplaced.

These two early tries were scored by the ever-impressive vice-captain, Dayne Donoghue and with the first of the these being converted by the hard-working Scott Yates.

But then a combination of Widnes resting on their laurels and a never-say-die attitude from the St Helens boys led to the home side turning round at half-time in the lead.

With only four minutes remaining, Widnes had fought back to within four points of St Helens with determination taking them to within 20 metres of the opponents line from where substitute Thomas Wood bulldozed his way over for a try that Scott Yates converted.

This then set up the match for a grandstand finish, and it looked as if Widnes would snatch a victory when, with only a couple of minutes left, they found themselves with six tackles right on the St Helens line. Panic set in and Widnes gave up the ball. From this mistake St Helens went all the way up the field to score the final points of the game.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.