Improvement in defeat for Heaton Moor

FOR their first round League Cup match, Moor played away at Wigan last Saturday and although they dominated much of the possession and position, especially in the first half, they came away emptyhanded.

Despite the margin of defeat, this was a much better all-round performance by the Green Lane side than in recent weeks, who were, arguably, without some firstchoice players – as is the nature of these non-league competitions and applies to all teams taking part in such events – and overall, led to a reasonably enjoyable game of rugby.

Following the kick-off by Wigan, Moor then spent the first ten minutes camped in their opponents’ half, but an error by the visitors led to the home side scoring on their first real intrusion into Moor territory.

This came from a series of rucks set up by Wigan inside their own half and at the final one, explicably there were no Moor players defending the flanks, allowing the industrious Wigan No. 8 to break out and then put his scrum-half away up the left wing to score a converted try.

This pattern of play then continued, where Moor had most of the possession within the opposition’s sector, but unable to find a way through the defence, only for Wigan to break out every ten minutes or so and come away with a score - in each of these cases with a penalty goal.

Only in the last few minutes leading up to the interval were Moor rewarded for their efforts, when following several penalties conceded by the home side just short of their try-line, each of which Moor elected to take as a scrum and each again resulting in

Wigan being penalised, the referee’s patience finally ran out and he awarded a penalty try, to leave the score at 13-7 to Wigan at the break.

This lead was immediately stretched from the restart, as Wigan attacked and a missed tackle took play deep into the Moor 22. From here, the ball was recycled a couple of times, ending up with an overlap on the left wing, enabling an unconverted try to be scored in the corner.

The pattern of the first half was then repeated, as the visitors kept control of the ball in their opponent’s half, but again were unable to break through, partly through solid defence and partly through their own lack of a cutting edge.

Midway through this second period, Wigan made a clearance kick to touch, taking them deep into their visitors half for the first time since their earlier try.

The resultant line-out was lost by Moor however, allowing the opposition to make further inroads and again, ineffectual tackling by Moor led to another unconverted try in the left-hand corner.

This proved to be the last score of the game, as play then fluctuated between both sides having control, with the final minutes again finding Moor camped in their opponent’s territory, but unable to cut the deficit, ending with a 23-7 victory for Wigan.

Despite the loss, Moor should be reasonably happy with the way they played for the majority of the game and it allowed a couple of ex-Colts to make their debut off the bench – Freddie McIlwraith at lock and Jake Barrett at hooker and together with Declan McGeehan at prop, now a ‘veteran’ after four games – the side is not short of recruits for the future.

With no game next week, Moor are at home to West Park (St. Helens) on December 7th, kick off 2.15pm.